As always, I wish first to thank my best friend, God. I hope one day that everyone can have a friendship with God.
Next, I acknowledge and thank my wonderful life partner, Nancy, to whom this book is dedicated. When I think of Nancy, my words of gratitude seem feeble next to her deeds, and I feel stuck with not being able to find a way to express how really extraordinary she is. This much I know. My work would not have been possible without her.
Then, I wish to acknowledge Robert S. Friedman, publisher at Hampton Roads Publishing Company, for his courage in first placing this material before the public in 1995, and in pub-lishing all volumes of the CWG trilogy. His decision to accept a manuscript that was rejected by four other publishers has changed the lives of millions.
And I can’t let the moment of this last installment in the CWG trilogy pass without acknowledging the extraordinary contribution to its publication made by Jonathan Friedman, whose clarity of vision, intensity of purpose, depth of spiritual understanding, endless well of enthusiasm, and monumental gift of creativity is in large measure the reason Conversations with God made its way to bookshelves when it did, how it did. It was Jonathan Friedman who recognized the enormity of this message and its importance, predicting that it would be read by millions, foreseeing that it would become a classic of spiritual literature. It was his determination which produced the timing and design of CWG, and his unwavering dedication which had much to do with the effectiveness of its initial distribution. All lovers of CWG are forever indebted to Jonathan, as am I.
I wish to thank Matthew Friedman also, for his tireless work on this project from the beginning. The value of his co-creative efforts in design and production cannot be overstated.
Finally, I want to acknowledge some of the authors and teachers whose work has so altered the philosophical and spiri-tual landscape of America and the world, and who inspire me daily with their commitment to telling a larger truth regardless of the pressures and personal complications that such a deci-sion creates.
To Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Larry Dossey, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Barbara Marx Hub-bard, Stephen Levine, Dr. Raymond Moody, James Redfield, Dr. Bernie Siegel, Dr. Brian Weiss, Marianne Williamson, and Gary Zukav—all of whom I have come to personally know and deeply respect—I pass on the thanks of a grateful public, and my personal appreciation and admiration.
These are some of our modern day way-show-ers, these are the pathfinders, and if I have been able to embark on a personal journey as a public declarer of eternal truth, it is because they, and others like them whom I have not met, have made it possi-ble. Their life work stands as testimony to the extraordinary brilliance of the light in all our souls. They have demonstrated what I have merely talked about..