Neale Donald Walsch (also known as Neale Marshall-Walsch) (b. September 10, 1943 in Milwaukee) is an American author of the series Conversations with God. The books so far in the series are Conversations With God (books 1-3), Friendship with God, Communion with God, The New Revelations, Tomorrow's God, What God Wants, Home with God: In a Life That Never Ends, and his newest book, Happier than God.
Walsch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 10, 1943, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. He studied The Bible, the Rig Veda and the Upanishads. He says his books are not channelled, but rather that they are inspired by God and that they can help a person relate to Him from a modern perspective. The God in his books, for example, says that "there is nothing you have to do." Walsch believes in a panentheistic God, who tries to communicate Himself as being unselfish. Walsch's vision is an expansion and unification of all present theologies to render them more relevant to our present day and time. He created Humanity's Team as a spiritual movement whose purpose is to communicate and implement his New Spirituality beliefs, particularly that we are all one with God and one with life, in a shared global state of being.
Walsch has met with some criticism for what some see as appearing overly zealous in finding ways to make money for his spin-off organizations. He has also been met with much praise for what others see as a tremendous effort to help humankind.
Before the Conversations With God series in the early 1990s, Walsch suffered a series of crushing blows — a fire that destroyed all of his belongings, the break-up of his marriage, a car accident that left him with a broken neck. Once recovered but alone and unemployed, Walsch was forced to live in a tent in Jackson Hot Springs, just outside Ashland, Oregon, collecting and recycling aluminium cans in order to eat. At the time, Walsch thought his life had come to an end. Despondent, Walsch began his writings after working his way out of homelessness following a short-lived job as a radio talk show host.
In 2003, the film Indigo, written by Neale Donald Walsch and James Twyman and directed by Stephen Simon was released. It chronicled the fictional story of the redemption of a grandfather, played by Walsch, through his granddaughter, who is an indigo child.
Conversations With God: The Movie opened in U.S. theaters Friday, October 27, 2006 and in Canada, November 10. The film was released on dvd February 27, 2007.
