|
BOOK
REVIEW
by
Cathy Brown
East
Anglian Magazine, May 2003
Good
God
At the age of 85, Betty Green
has just published her first
book. And what a remarkable book
it is too. Inspired by Neale
Donald Walsch's international
bestselling trilogy
Conversations with God,
Betty sat down at her computer
and started asking questions. And
this book is made up of the
answers she was given.
"I am not psychic, I am not a
spiritualist, but it just sort of
came to me that I should do what
Neale's been doing, but in an
even simpler way," explained
Betty, who lives near Hadleigh.
"I wanted answers to all the
ordinary questions. It is
ridiculous to think I wrote it in
a way.
Betty (perhaps better known
under her previous married name
Attkins) has been reading the
book aloud to a friend who is
nearly blind, and finds herself
saying: "Doesn't that one make
sense?" as if she had never heard
it before.
Betty moved to Suffolk in
1953, and has had nine different
homes in the county. She says the
book came about after she spent
some time on Arran, helping her
son and his wife set up a
personal development centre.
"They do a lot of good for
people, but I knew I couldn't
keep it up. I was working too
hard. It was one of the most
difficult decisions of my life to
leave Arran - they were all so
full of enthusiasm. But I felt I
must get out of it. I now know
why."
Betty says that although she
is long past retirement age, she
returned to Suffolk feeling: "I
am not here just to do nothing."
"I just got up one night after
I had gone to bed." She sat down
at the computer - and started
typing.
Her "incredible" conversations
with God have made her think "a
bit differently," she says. "This
is a book for people who run from
religion."
It has been rejected by very
religious people because it is
not orthodox enough, she said.
"It covers all religions, it is
for every religion."
Betty has come to believe that
God is another name for Good, or
the "great universal
intelligence."
"I have always believed that
there is a god and I used to
think of God as a person," she
said. "The thing I have learned
is that God isn't a person, God
is love. We don't say he or she
or it for love! The people who
are most likely to benefit from
the book are people who aren't
very religious."
Betty took meditation classes
for many years, and she believes
her ability to meditate has been
a key to writing the book.
"I can make my mind a complete
blank. I just tuned in."
People ask her how she knows
which are her thoughts and which
are God's thoughts. "I can only
describe it as if a quarter of my
mind is staying conscious, while
a higher mind takes over the
rest. Although it is all in my
head, it is very clear. The voice
is different. The thoughts aren't
my thoughts. I know it is not me
because I would not be able to
give those answers."
Betty got her first computer
when she was 70. "I was writing
my autobiography. I have had a
very up and down life. I have
known what it is to be without
income on two different
occasions."
In the late 50s Betty started
a country club "so that I didn't
have to leave my children in the
care of anybody else." But after
ten years it became too much. "It
was almost a 24 hour a day job. I
did all the cooking. It was open
all the year."
So she and her husband bought
"two old cottages that had a
demolition order on them, and
turned it into a lovely house at
Great Finborough."
But cash was still scarce so
she started a mobile dress shop
in a converted ambulance.
"I was on TV with that. It was
a wonderful advert. When I went
round the villages, people waved
to me! I ran that for 14 years.
People still meet me in the town
and say: 'Oh I do miss your
shop.'
She is still immaculately
turned out: on first appearance
perhaps the last person you would
suspect of holding conversations
with God.
"I thought I had retired in
1984, but I don't think I have
ever been what you call retired,"
she laughed. "My dear old husband
died. We were married for nearly
30 years. It was a wonderful
marriage. Then I made a mistake
and married again."
After that she moved to
Scotland to help her son with his
personal development centre. When
it became too much and she
returned to Suffolk, her two sons
gave her "this lovely new
laptop," to keep in e-mail
contact. And that is when those
conversations began.
"I thought: 'I am here for
some reason, not just to sit back
and do nothing.' To start with I
was very sceptical. But I was
told several times: 'This isn't
just for you, it is for
everybody'."
And that was what compelled
her to go ahead and get the book
published - at her own expense.
She is even publicising it on the
Internet.
The conversations have
stopped, for the moment, because
Betty has been putting all her
effort into getting the books
into shops across Fast Anglia.
"There is a limit to how much
I can do. I have got a feeling
that I am waiting to be guided. I
don't know whether it is going to
be more questions or something
slightly different," she said. "I
am open to be used for whatever
is wanted."
She is now interested in
putting her autobiography into
print.
"I would love to get that
published because I have had such
a varied life. I finished that in
1996.1 have lived a whole other
life since then! Life can be very
exciting even at my age!"
She is confident that, even if
it does not happen in her
lifetime, Good God will be a
best-seller.
"Maybe after I have gone it
will take off. I am sure it will
take off."
| 
