The purpose of the two books is to invite anyone who is interested to enter onto a new kind of life, that can be called the Path of Obedience - meaning obedience to God's Will. But before you can sensibly obey any command or guidance you need to know who you are obeying, why you should obey them, and once you are satisfied as to who and why, then how to do it and what may be asked of you.
The only good way to find out is by question and answer - your questions and God's answers: not a Church's answers, or a guru's or a Red Indian medicine man's, but God's. Is it possible that God would answer you? The Church will say "No", because if it said "Yes" it would make itself redundant. It alone knows God's Will and is eager to tell you. And of course very often what it tells you is wise and good. But also, often enough, it is neither, as many of its victims, from heretics to women, would tell you if they had survived.
In spite of the Church's disapproval many people have been in direct communication with God; saints and mystics who have been willing to listen to Her. I say "Her", not "Him", not because God is a woman in any limited sense, but as a counter balance to the masculine prejudice of Christianity. And common sense should tell us that a mother is a better image of the Creator than a father.
But listening to God, to a silent Voice in your mind that answers your questions and guides your conduct and your life, can be very dangerous, which is one reason, the only good one, why the Roman Catholic Church disapproves. We can be misled. We can hear evil as well as good. And even more dangerous because it is so easy and so seductive, we can hear what we want to hear, and not what God wishes us to hear.
That is why we need to learn how to listen and how to ask good questions. We need to become ready to hear and accept hard answers as well as soft ones. We need to discard our prejudices and certainties as to what God must want, and what She surely cannot want. We must go to Her as children go to school, ready to learn, to be taught.
There is a theory that God is already within us and that all we need do is find Her. And there has to be truth in this. If God was not in some sense "inside" us we could not exist. Our souls are "the Breath of God"; God gives us life and that essential minimum of Grace that allows us to continue to live. But when the theory goes on to tell us that in reality we are God, that God is simply our own Higher or Inner Self, once again common sense says "No!" because what that is really saying is that there is no God. It is as though you were to believe that the light in your light bulb created its self; that there is no mains supply, no generator, no such thing as electricity.
There is another reason as well for rejecting the "I am God" theory. It involves the worship of self. There is a kindred theory that one needs to love one's self before one can love anyone else. Why? Do you really, truly believe you are loveable? Do you examine your self, and say "I am wonderful!"? If you do, then nothing written here is for you.
Only if you believe that unselfishness is better than selfishness, and that the highest praise anyone can give someone else is to say that they are selfless, can you even begin to accept the idea of entering on a Path of Obedience to God's Will. "Not my will, God, but Thine."
To follow this Path means getting rid of self, selfish desires; even desires that seem to be good. Because we cannot know what is really good until God tells us. It is an old saying that the worst thing that can happen to us is to have our prayers answered. "Please God, give me..." Dear God, I need... I must have... I want..." "Please let Jimmy pass his exams.(even though he hasn't worked for them)... please cure Aunt Mary's arthritis (although her diet is crazy)..."
All these prayers assume that you know what is good. They also assume that God needs reminders and promptings, "Please remember Cousin Billy and let him get that job..."
If you think in those ways nothing in these pages is likely to appeal to you. But if you are ready to think differently, or to consider a different way of thinking, then the following suggestions may be of use to you.
God knows your real needs far better than you do. If you offer to obey God, She will teach you how to do that. But this means ceasing to obey your self, your own will and desires. You can't have it both ways. And She will require your obedience seven days a week. You can't make bargains, like saying "I'll give you so much of my time but I want days off!"
You must not expect to be admired for what you are setting out to do. The best you should hope for is to be ignored. The likeliest result is amused contempt and a possibility is sheer hatred. When anyone sets out to obey God evil becomes very angry. You may have to endure some very rough periods.
Before all else you will need to cleanse your life. If you were inviting a lover to your house, you would clean it. (If you wouldn't you are not the sort of person who is likely to read this.) If you are inviting God into your life it needs to be a clean life.
Finally, why should you do this? The best reason is because you want to. The next best is because you feel you should. And not for any reward, even your own salvation, but in order to offer God something, to become Her servant. Is there any better, greater ambition?