The urge to pray seems instinctive in most humans. As an attempt to communicate with a being higher and more powerful than oneself, prayer generally devolves into requests for help and favors intermingled with flattering thanks designed to wheedle future gifts -- as a small child would beg a parent. That is certainly the way I was exposed to it in the United States.
I've written before about the evident uselessness of such begging prayers as far as their bringing special help from the Divine is concerned. I certainly cannot say that some kind of godly intervention never occurs as a result of a cry for help, but observation shows that most prayer requests are not granted. The pleasing results of those which seem to be granted may be explained more by chance, or by a focus of the individual's visualization and desire and belief, than to action by a deity.
Nevertheless, I have a persistent inclination to pray, to find some means of communication with the higher power or powers I sense exist and have helped and guided me. As I struggled one night with the question of how to pray, it came to me that prayer should consist of a receptive state rather than talk aimed at a beneficent deity. In other words, prayer should consist of listening rather than speaking.
Relax, eyes closed, with a listening and watchfully waiting attitude. Signal in some way that a prayer has begun. What follows is like meditation, in which one discourages the inner word-stream and tries to make the mind clear, perhaps using attention to one's breathing to drive mundane thoughts away. Concentrate on the dark screen before your eyes, watching expectantly for something to appear and be alert to anything resembling inspiration or thoughts coming from a higher source.
You are tuned to receive.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, January 15, 2009
"YOU WILL BE HEARD"
Yesterday morning, in that half waking state which often brings unusual perceptions, I saw vividly the words: “You will be heard”, as if typed on the lower part of a piece of paper which had some sort of innocently pleasant images above. The message was accompanied by a strong feeling of electricity and great importance which startled me.
I immediately associated “You will be heard” with my efforts to pray before I fell asleep late that night.
Prayer – which might be defined as human efforts to communicate (often verbally) with a higher power – is a vexing subject, as many posts in this blog attest. If “giving orders to the universe” is a form of prayer (see my previous post), I am back on that subject again because my prayer these days is based on myself as a lens focusing the power of the Source to achieve desired results. My words and mental images form effects which the Source will create in the human world. . . or so I believe.
The unusual thing about the night whose morning brought the message was that I had struggled over the dilemma whether or not to include among my positive orders for the benefit of myself and others, any negative commands aimed at people who are creating pain and injustice in the world. I knew the spiritual teaching that I should never let anger and hatred or a desire for revenge affect my wishes, and that praying bad things on others will rebound to injure me.
But during these days of the unholy Israeli massacres in Gaza I couldn't help feeling outrage of the most extreme degree, and so a few days ago I decided to let myself go and try to focus the Source on the destruction of those who are killing many hundreds of people, a third of them children, inside a relatively defenseless enclave forced on its population by their Israeli occupiers. My anger extended not only to Israel and its supporters in the United States, but also to the idea that there was some biblical “God” who was allowing such a thing to happen.
So for several days I did my best to focus the Source on those horrible murderers and asked for and visualized their defeat and destruction. As a concession to certain spiritual teachings I also tried to replace the bloody carnage with images of peace and of people moving back to cultivate the lands which the Israelis had stolen from them. I also tried to see myself in the role of a dispassionate gardener who must cut off a diseased branch in order to save the tree. I tried not to feel any hatred. A surgeon who removes a leg so that the body can be relieved of pain and poison is not motivated by anger or a desire for revenge, but instead by a positive desire to bring health.
Be that as it may, the night before the morning message I realized that a nagging discomfort I felt was coming from my “negative prayers”. Apparently I could not focus a destructive design to rid the earth of a source of injustice and pain without polluting my own spirit with anger. So, with a sense of guilt because I felt I was abandoning a good cause, I decided to end my prayers for destruction. That was not because I felt sorry for the people I might hurt, but because of a spiritual principle.
I do not know which of my words will be heard, but I know that “You will be heard” came to me with authority and created a feeling of ecstatic happiness. I was in an elevated mood throughout that morning, feeling that I had been favored with communication of a very unusual kind even though I have only my intuition to interpret it.
Please note that I have written extensively about Israel and its supporters in the United States in my other blog, VIEW FROM THE MOON.
I immediately associated “You will be heard” with my efforts to pray before I fell asleep late that night.
Prayer – which might be defined as human efforts to communicate (often verbally) with a higher power – is a vexing subject, as many posts in this blog attest. If “giving orders to the universe” is a form of prayer (see my previous post), I am back on that subject again because my prayer these days is based on myself as a lens focusing the power of the Source to achieve desired results. My words and mental images form effects which the Source will create in the human world. . . or so I believe.
The unusual thing about the night whose morning brought the message was that I had struggled over the dilemma whether or not to include among my positive orders for the benefit of myself and others, any negative commands aimed at people who are creating pain and injustice in the world. I knew the spiritual teaching that I should never let anger and hatred or a desire for revenge affect my wishes, and that praying bad things on others will rebound to injure me.
But during these days of the unholy Israeli massacres in Gaza I couldn't help feeling outrage of the most extreme degree, and so a few days ago I decided to let myself go and try to focus the Source on the destruction of those who are killing many hundreds of people, a third of them children, inside a relatively defenseless enclave forced on its population by their Israeli occupiers. My anger extended not only to Israel and its supporters in the United States, but also to the idea that there was some biblical “God” who was allowing such a thing to happen.
So for several days I did my best to focus the Source on those horrible murderers and asked for and visualized their defeat and destruction. As a concession to certain spiritual teachings I also tried to replace the bloody carnage with images of peace and of people moving back to cultivate the lands which the Israelis had stolen from them. I also tried to see myself in the role of a dispassionate gardener who must cut off a diseased branch in order to save the tree. I tried not to feel any hatred. A surgeon who removes a leg so that the body can be relieved of pain and poison is not motivated by anger or a desire for revenge, but instead by a positive desire to bring health.
Be that as it may, the night before the morning message I realized that a nagging discomfort I felt was coming from my “negative prayers”. Apparently I could not focus a destructive design to rid the earth of a source of injustice and pain without polluting my own spirit with anger. So, with a sense of guilt because I felt I was abandoning a good cause, I decided to end my prayers for destruction. That was not because I felt sorry for the people I might hurt, but because of a spiritual principle.
I do not know which of my words will be heard, but I know that “You will be heard” came to me with authority and created a feeling of ecstatic happiness. I was in an elevated mood throughout that morning, feeling that I had been favored with communication of a very unusual kind even though I have only my intuition to interpret it.
Please note that I have written extensively about Israel and its supporters in the United States in my other blog, VIEW FROM THE MOON.
Friday, January 5, 2007
From THE UNOBSTRUCTED UNIVERSE
Here I am going to paraphrase or quote some statements from THE UNOBSTRUCTED UNIVERSE which interested me. I particularly want to pass on the passage about prayer because prayer has been discussed in my Weblog and will be discussed more in the future. I described the book in my previous post. Betty is the deceased wife of the author, purportedly speaking through a medium.
The obstructed universe compared to the unobstructed universe is like a black and white photograph compared to a color photograph of the same scene.
“The only reason,” Betty said, “that you cannot exist and operate in the ENTIRE universe, as I do – for I operate in your universe as well as in mine – is because you are not able to step up your frequency.”
Consciousness is the only reality. “Consciousness, in degrees, is the one and only reality.”
All things have consciousness in some degree. Each degree has its frequency.
The whole of consciousness, the fundamental reality, is in evolution. The principle of evolution operates throughout the universe.
“As for me [Betty said] when I shall go on into my next life [she is already in an afterlife] I do not know. They tell me it will be something comparable, but not quite as I know it here. I know there are future manifestations of consciousness, but I do not know their characteristics. . . . There is an ultimate or supreme degree of consciousness.”
“All consciousness is limited by its degree until it evolves into the supreme.”
The following is a shortened dialogue about prayer:
Darby said: “I am wondering about the wisdom of using the work ‘prayer’. It has such various connotations in people’s minds.”
“I think most people understand, dimly at least, what prayer really is,” said Betty. “I don’t think the exact meaning of the word is discarded.”
“To most it means that you are trying to influence a power beyond you in your own behalf,” pursued Darby. “It is directed to a god with magic power to answer it. That is not the conception we have. We need some different devotional word to indicate contact with unobstructed consciousness, do we not?”
“The majority of people cannot aspire to such contact,” pointed out Betty. “Their degree is not yet high enough. The formulation of a need into a thought, a petition, with the sure submerging of self, that comes with prayer to what is higher and greater than self, is a beneficent operation to the individual, and is a definite projection into the unobstructed universe.”
Anne (like Betty, an inhabitant of the unobstructed universe) said: “The world has got along very well on a belief in prayer, for the voicing of a desire or an emotion makes it concrete. It clears it in your own mind, if nothing else. And maybe when you have formulated it, you find you do not want it; or if you do.” [Just like my – Fleming’s – idea that flipping a coin has value because if you feel pleased or disappointed at the outcome you know what you want to happen.]
Betty’s husband now asks her a question and gets an answer that, in its final part, puzzles me but which may be more meaningful to others:
“Well, now,” said I to Betty, “you have always been beyond the anthropomorphic idea, yet you were always fond of repeating the Lord’s Prayer. What did you have in your mind? To whom did you address it?”
“To consciousness,” replied Betty.
“Did you think of consciousness with personality, warmth – such warmth as comes with personality?”
“As though I were drowning in a great sea, and there was a shipful of people, any or all of whom could help me,” replied Betty promptly.
The obstructed universe compared to the unobstructed universe is like a black and white photograph compared to a color photograph of the same scene.
“The only reason,” Betty said, “that you cannot exist and operate in the ENTIRE universe, as I do – for I operate in your universe as well as in mine – is because you are not able to step up your frequency.”
Consciousness is the only reality. “Consciousness, in degrees, is the one and only reality.”
All things have consciousness in some degree. Each degree has its frequency.
The whole of consciousness, the fundamental reality, is in evolution. The principle of evolution operates throughout the universe.
“As for me [Betty said] when I shall go on into my next life [she is already in an afterlife] I do not know. They tell me it will be something comparable, but not quite as I know it here. I know there are future manifestations of consciousness, but I do not know their characteristics. . . . There is an ultimate or supreme degree of consciousness.”
“All consciousness is limited by its degree until it evolves into the supreme.”
The following is a shortened dialogue about prayer:
Darby said: “I am wondering about the wisdom of using the work ‘prayer’. It has such various connotations in people’s minds.”
“I think most people understand, dimly at least, what prayer really is,” said Betty. “I don’t think the exact meaning of the word is discarded.”
“To most it means that you are trying to influence a power beyond you in your own behalf,” pursued Darby. “It is directed to a god with magic power to answer it. That is not the conception we have. We need some different devotional word to indicate contact with unobstructed consciousness, do we not?”
“The majority of people cannot aspire to such contact,” pointed out Betty. “Their degree is not yet high enough. The formulation of a need into a thought, a petition, with the sure submerging of self, that comes with prayer to what is higher and greater than self, is a beneficent operation to the individual, and is a definite projection into the unobstructed universe.”
Anne (like Betty, an inhabitant of the unobstructed universe) said: “The world has got along very well on a belief in prayer, for the voicing of a desire or an emotion makes it concrete. It clears it in your own mind, if nothing else. And maybe when you have formulated it, you find you do not want it; or if you do.” [Just like my – Fleming’s – idea that flipping a coin has value because if you feel pleased or disappointed at the outcome you know what you want to happen.]
Betty’s husband now asks her a question and gets an answer that, in its final part, puzzles me but which may be more meaningful to others:
“Well, now,” said I to Betty, “you have always been beyond the anthropomorphic idea, yet you were always fond of repeating the Lord’s Prayer. What did you have in your mind? To whom did you address it?”
“To consciousness,” replied Betty.
“Did you think of consciousness with personality, warmth – such warmth as comes with personality?”
“As though I were drowning in a great sea, and there was a shipful of people, any or all of whom could help me,” replied Betty promptly.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
A New Guest
A Comment by Yves:
“Well, I may be too much of a spoilt kid to believe in God but I have recently come to the conclusion that the monotheistic idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God is off the mark, for me at any rate. Putting it theologically, I would say that divinity is completely immanent and not transcendent. Putting it primitively I would say that there is divinity in every tree, every blade of grass, every insect and so on. Prayer doesn't have to be in words, it doesn't need to be begging or commanding except in extremity. It can be a continuous stream of thanks---appreciation for life. But I would not want to get into any preaching, that is we do harm by trying to prescribe anything to anyone. We can just learn to enjoy.”
I “met” Yves yesterday, when my wife for the first time tried her hand at a “Next Blog” button and brought up Yves’ AS IN LIFE. . .. She was amazed by the similarity of many of his topics and views to mine. I was equally astonished, and even more so because his location in England is just a few miles from where I lived in Beaconsfield. The scenes he photographs and beautifully describes in his blog are familiar to me.
I posted a Comment on his blog, he kindly posted a number of Comments on FLIGHTS OF PEGASUS, we exchanged an email, and my life has been enriched not only by reading AS IN LIFE. . . but also by receiving his comments.
I began this entry with one of his comments because I agree that the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God is off the mark. From our human viewpoint – which is all we have – God cannot be all those things because such a God would have prevented the extreme sufferings and fears that His creatures endure. God cannot be both loving and all-powerful.
The big question that remains for me is to what extent, if any, God takes an ACTIVE role in influencing human and other events. There is divinity in everything – immanent, inherent -- but is there also an aspect of divinity which actively intervenes in the universe, which deliberately causes things to go in certain ways and not in others? Is God bound up in the manifested universe and unable to act upon it, or can God perform an act of “grace” to help someone. Even if the Source does not act of Its own volition, if Its power can be channeled and focused to some purpose by human Will, is not human Will the Source in action?
("The living entities are superior energy of the Supreme because the quality of their existence is one and the same with the Supreme, but they are never equal to the Supreme in quantity of power." Bhagavad-Gita 7. Commentary on 7.5)
Maybe it is simply futile to ask such questions, but all of us who have experienced what we feel is some kind of helpful intervention in our lives must feel curiosity about where it came from. Is it done by a higher aspect of my Self? Is it done by the Source spontaneously or in answer to a prayer of request, or in response to purposeful visualization powered by desire and Will? Or is it all done by some “agent” of God delegated with such responsibilities?
In spite of some of the things I’ve written in this blog, and in spite of my skepticism about “begging” prayers, I find myself still sometimes wanting to pray for help. I feel that there have been helpful interventions in my life, and I sense – correctly or incorrectly -- that there is some sort of helper or helping force involved.
I would list my making contact with Yves and AS IN LIFE as an example. Just two days ago I prayed, consciously deciding to ASK my unidentified “helper” to bring into my life a new source of knowledge or inspiration, a teacher perhaps, or a book that would lead me in a good direction. I believe that my extraordinary meeting with Yves and his inspiring blog, so similar to my own thinking, was a fulfillment of that request.
I hope I don’t embarrass Yves by implying that he is an answer to a prayer! I would be dishonoring this "coincidence" if I didn't acknowledge it.
“Well, I may be too much of a spoilt kid to believe in God but I have recently come to the conclusion that the monotheistic idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God is off the mark, for me at any rate. Putting it theologically, I would say that divinity is completely immanent and not transcendent. Putting it primitively I would say that there is divinity in every tree, every blade of grass, every insect and so on. Prayer doesn't have to be in words, it doesn't need to be begging or commanding except in extremity. It can be a continuous stream of thanks---appreciation for life. But I would not want to get into any preaching, that is we do harm by trying to prescribe anything to anyone. We can just learn to enjoy.”
I “met” Yves yesterday, when my wife for the first time tried her hand at a “Next Blog” button and brought up Yves’ AS IN LIFE. . .. She was amazed by the similarity of many of his topics and views to mine. I was equally astonished, and even more so because his location in England is just a few miles from where I lived in Beaconsfield. The scenes he photographs and beautifully describes in his blog are familiar to me.
I posted a Comment on his blog, he kindly posted a number of Comments on FLIGHTS OF PEGASUS, we exchanged an email, and my life has been enriched not only by reading AS IN LIFE. . . but also by receiving his comments.
I began this entry with one of his comments because I agree that the idea of an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving God is off the mark. From our human viewpoint – which is all we have – God cannot be all those things because such a God would have prevented the extreme sufferings and fears that His creatures endure. God cannot be both loving and all-powerful.
The big question that remains for me is to what extent, if any, God takes an ACTIVE role in influencing human and other events. There is divinity in everything – immanent, inherent -- but is there also an aspect of divinity which actively intervenes in the universe, which deliberately causes things to go in certain ways and not in others? Is God bound up in the manifested universe and unable to act upon it, or can God perform an act of “grace” to help someone. Even if the Source does not act of Its own volition, if Its power can be channeled and focused to some purpose by human Will, is not human Will the Source in action?
("The living entities are superior energy of the Supreme because the quality of their existence is one and the same with the Supreme, but they are never equal to the Supreme in quantity of power." Bhagavad-Gita 7. Commentary on 7.5)
Maybe it is simply futile to ask such questions, but all of us who have experienced what we feel is some kind of helpful intervention in our lives must feel curiosity about where it came from. Is it done by a higher aspect of my Self? Is it done by the Source spontaneously or in answer to a prayer of request, or in response to purposeful visualization powered by desire and Will? Or is it all done by some “agent” of God delegated with such responsibilities?
In spite of some of the things I’ve written in this blog, and in spite of my skepticism about “begging” prayers, I find myself still sometimes wanting to pray for help. I feel that there have been helpful interventions in my life, and I sense – correctly or incorrectly -- that there is some sort of helper or helping force involved.
I would list my making contact with Yves and AS IN LIFE as an example. Just two days ago I prayed, consciously deciding to ASK my unidentified “helper” to bring into my life a new source of knowledge or inspiration, a teacher perhaps, or a book that would lead me in a good direction. I believe that my extraordinary meeting with Yves and his inspiring blog, so similar to my own thinking, was a fulfillment of that request.
I hope I don’t embarrass Yves by implying that he is an answer to a prayer! I would be dishonoring this "coincidence" if I didn't acknowledge it.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Guest Post
I think the Comment by Freyashawk on "A Reader's Excellent Comment on Prayer" can stand as a blog entry itself, and so it will be today's post. I'm very happy that two readers have left such interesting comments on prayer -- a subject which we obviously should continue to pursue.
Here is Freyashawk's Comment:
"This is a fascinating discussion. 'Prayer' can consist of any act from meditation to a plea to a higher power. It is interesting to feel that one must 'command' rather than 'beg' but in my opinion, prayer is any act that seeks 'nearness to God' or 'qurbatan ilallah' as it is stated in Islam. To believe that one's desires should be fulfilled by a Higher Being is to be egocentric in the extreme. I think that in this sense, the ultimate prayer of the Christian Christ is to be lauded: 'Thy Will be done'. One needn't perceive God as the Old Testament entity or even as anthropomorphic in order to believe in and communicate with the Deity. The idea that one is small and God is infinite, that therefore one is less even than an eyelash upon the face of God and yet intrinsically an integral part of this incredible, unknowable Being provides endless subjects for meditation. 'Thy Will be done' in this sense would mean that our own tiny insignificant selfish desires should not be fulfilled automatically. That would be tantamount to making us into spoiled little brats. A parent who loves his/her child nonetheless should not satisfy that child's every desire. Instant gratification is not love. There are those who say that suffering and pain are a means to greater wisdom and this has been demonstrated in many lives. It is not pleasant but it can be akin to the tempering of steel. As human beings, we are born in a state of transition. We spend our lives growing and learning. Where does that leave God? I think that if God is infinite, we cannot begin to comprehend that infinity. Like spoiled children, some of us often rebel against the entire notion of God, either in rage, frustration or a desire to feel superior. Many people and even most religions have tried to reduce God to human terms, an error that is almost as great as that of denying the existence of any higher being. All these motivations stem from our insecurity. Is it not sufficient simply to know that the universe is far greater than our wildest dreams and imaginings but that we are a part of this immense magnificence? As far as ritual prayer is concerned, I do believe that ritual serves a vital purpose. It is a matter of creating a 'sacred space', a place that is outside of our ordinary busy lives and all the problems and distractions that besiege us. The prayer mat is one such sacred space. The Sacred Circle is another. Churches and mosques are communal sacred spaces. The act of repetitious ritual prayer is a door to another consciousness. It calms the heart and mind and allows us to achieve the state of being necessary to touch the divine. It is interesting to note that beads, sometimes known as 'worry beads' are an almost universal praying device. They are used by Christians (the rosary), by Muslims (the tasbih) and by Buddhists as well as by adherents to other religions. The act of moving one's fingers from bead to bead while repeating a mantra is both a means of relaxation and a 'focus'. Time becomes a necklace to be manipulated, and one's universe becomes at once encapsulated within the circle of the beads and yet expands to embrace the divine. The mistake that people make with respect to prayer is in regarding it as an end in itself when it should be perceived as a means to an end. It is AFTER the prayer that one reaches the state of 'nearness' to the Deity..."
Here is Freyashawk's Comment:
"This is a fascinating discussion. 'Prayer' can consist of any act from meditation to a plea to a higher power. It is interesting to feel that one must 'command' rather than 'beg' but in my opinion, prayer is any act that seeks 'nearness to God' or 'qurbatan ilallah' as it is stated in Islam. To believe that one's desires should be fulfilled by a Higher Being is to be egocentric in the extreme. I think that in this sense, the ultimate prayer of the Christian Christ is to be lauded: 'Thy Will be done'. One needn't perceive God as the Old Testament entity or even as anthropomorphic in order to believe in and communicate with the Deity. The idea that one is small and God is infinite, that therefore one is less even than an eyelash upon the face of God and yet intrinsically an integral part of this incredible, unknowable Being provides endless subjects for meditation. 'Thy Will be done' in this sense would mean that our own tiny insignificant selfish desires should not be fulfilled automatically. That would be tantamount to making us into spoiled little brats. A parent who loves his/her child nonetheless should not satisfy that child's every desire. Instant gratification is not love. There are those who say that suffering and pain are a means to greater wisdom and this has been demonstrated in many lives. It is not pleasant but it can be akin to the tempering of steel. As human beings, we are born in a state of transition. We spend our lives growing and learning. Where does that leave God? I think that if God is infinite, we cannot begin to comprehend that infinity. Like spoiled children, some of us often rebel against the entire notion of God, either in rage, frustration or a desire to feel superior. Many people and even most religions have tried to reduce God to human terms, an error that is almost as great as that of denying the existence of any higher being. All these motivations stem from our insecurity. Is it not sufficient simply to know that the universe is far greater than our wildest dreams and imaginings but that we are a part of this immense magnificence? As far as ritual prayer is concerned, I do believe that ritual serves a vital purpose. It is a matter of creating a 'sacred space', a place that is outside of our ordinary busy lives and all the problems and distractions that besiege us. The prayer mat is one such sacred space. The Sacred Circle is another. Churches and mosques are communal sacred spaces. The act of repetitious ritual prayer is a door to another consciousness. It calms the heart and mind and allows us to achieve the state of being necessary to touch the divine. It is interesting to note that beads, sometimes known as 'worry beads' are an almost universal praying device. They are used by Christians (the rosary), by Muslims (the tasbih) and by Buddhists as well as by adherents to other religions. The act of moving one's fingers from bead to bead while repeating a mantra is both a means of relaxation and a 'focus'. Time becomes a necklace to be manipulated, and one's universe becomes at once encapsulated within the circle of the beads and yet expands to embrace the divine. The mistake that people make with respect to prayer is in regarding it as an end in itself when it should be perceived as a means to an end. It is AFTER the prayer that one reaches the state of 'nearness' to the Deity..."
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
A Reader's Excellent Comment on Prayer
The anonymous Comment on my December 4 entry is very wise:
“Perhaps ‘prayer’ is actually simply acknowledging the Source and Its power, and seeking to align oneself with that.”
Those words suggest to me that in my analogy of the individual acting as a lens to focus the power of the Source, the individual must be in some sense aligned with the Source. The words also bring to mind the phrase often used in the “I Ching” – that the “superior person” must be “in harmony with Heaven”. It also calls up the idea of “centering”.
The Source and the natural laws of “Heaven” are superior to all human endeavors and cannot be evaded or defied, and yet our chattering monkey-minds regularly scamper far from the path of harmony with Heaven and make it impossible to focus the Source until there is realignment.
The Source can never NOT be where we are, but we can obscure it and become unatuned to it in the same way that clouds can hide the sun, or a puddle which reflects the Moon can be muddied so that the Moon seems to disappear. The Source, the Sun, and the Moon are always there, but our own perceptions can be obscured. That is the greatest sadness and challenge of our human state.
I’m sure I’ve gone beyond what the author of the Comment intended, but I think it all fits together. The subject was prayer, and the Comment suggested “that prayer is simply acknowledging the Source and Its power, and seeking to align oneself with that.” Prayer means many things to many people, but the Comment describes the highest form of prayer, which is probably completely wordless.
I like the saying that prayer is a state of mind rather than a monologue. That also fits with the Comment, in which prayer is a process of seeking change in ourselves which will bring us into alignment with the Source.
Thank you for the Comment, Anonymous .
“Perhaps ‘prayer’ is actually simply acknowledging the Source and Its power, and seeking to align oneself with that.”
Those words suggest to me that in my analogy of the individual acting as a lens to focus the power of the Source, the individual must be in some sense aligned with the Source. The words also bring to mind the phrase often used in the “I Ching” – that the “superior person” must be “in harmony with Heaven”. It also calls up the idea of “centering”.
The Source and the natural laws of “Heaven” are superior to all human endeavors and cannot be evaded or defied, and yet our chattering monkey-minds regularly scamper far from the path of harmony with Heaven and make it impossible to focus the Source until there is realignment.
The Source can never NOT be where we are, but we can obscure it and become unatuned to it in the same way that clouds can hide the sun, or a puddle which reflects the Moon can be muddied so that the Moon seems to disappear. The Source, the Sun, and the Moon are always there, but our own perceptions can be obscured. That is the greatest sadness and challenge of our human state.
I’m sure I’ve gone beyond what the author of the Comment intended, but I think it all fits together. The subject was prayer, and the Comment suggested “that prayer is simply acknowledging the Source and Its power, and seeking to align oneself with that.” Prayer means many things to many people, but the Comment describes the highest form of prayer, which is probably completely wordless.
I like the saying that prayer is a state of mind rather than a monologue. That also fits with the Comment, in which prayer is a process of seeking change in ourselves which will bring us into alignment with the Source.
Thank you for the Comment, Anonymous .
Monday, December 4, 2006
Commanding versus Begging
If I had to pick one message from my personal experience which might be of the most practical help to people who haven’t already discovered it for themselves, it would be, “You’re in charge.”
That sounds unnatural because from the beginning we are encouraged to feel just the opposite. Our parents are in charge, our teachers, our bosses, our government are in charge – not even to mention the buffetings of “fate” and “chance” which knock us here and there. Even in an apparently equal friendship or marriage one of the pair usually seems more “in charge” than the other, and not because either person intends it or is even conscious of it.
For now I’m going to address how “You’re in charge” relates to prayer.
My religious indoctrination was in the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Florida. There was a great deal of bowing down and begging in prayers, which occured from the beginning of Sunday School to the end of the main service. There was even a small clique of creaky men in the “Amen Corner” in some front pews who didn’t feel that Preacher McCall’s long prayers were sufficient in length or in pleas for forgiveness or in reminders of the threat of damnation, and my child’s heart sank when one of those old scarecrows rose to address the Lord because I knew it would take at least ten minutes for the Lord to be fully informed of what presumably He knew in the first place. Meanwhile I would start a counter-prayer to make the Amen Corner's prayer shorter.
I learned that the purpose of prayer was to ask God for things, usually a long list of things, and to thank God for giving you things that you had asked for before. God apparently didn’t have a very good memory because every Sunday he had to be reminded again to bless and guide the church, the entire congregation, our missionaries, the Southern Baptist Convention, our President, our House of Representatives, our Senate, and of course to open the hearts of the heathens to salvation.
I noted that something like this was going on all over the world, all the time. How could God possibly pay attention to those millions upon millions of requests, and how did He decide which favors to grant?
I paid a lot of attention to prayer, and I prayed a lot myself, and after years I was forced to recognize that prayer did not work. Prayer as I’d learned it simply did not accomplish its purpose. A whole congregation praying for Brother Jones’ swift recovery resulted in his promptly dying. Hurricanes and tsunamis and bombs destroyed churches filled with people praying for divine deliverance. My prayers for material things proved less effective than my Santa Claus wish list.
To make it worse, it seemed that in prayer contests between conflicting nations and their armies, the side of justice lost the war at least as often as the unjust. I knew that many prayers surrounded sports events, but someone always lost.
Then, one day, it came to me: Don’t ask. Command.
I was on an ocean liner returning alone from Europe, looking forward to the voyage and the delicious food, when I was suddenly hit with all the symptoms of flu. Here I am, eager for the joys of the ocean and a reunion on the far shore, and I’m sentenced to at least a week of misery. For the first hour of fever and weakness I could hardly bring myself to stand up, but as I thought about all that I would miss -- not least the midnight buffets -- I became irrationally defiant.
I sat up and began to give orders to my body. Instead of praying to Somebody out there, I commanded all the cells of my body to bring an immediate cure. I ordered that the fever be gone, all the symptoms be gone, and that I be healthy and filled with energy.
Within minutes those things were true. Incredibly the illness lifted like fog giving way to bright sun. I felt wonderful relief. I was soon walking happily and gratefully on the deck looking forward to dinner. I was entirely well.
(I think it helped that I also tried to identify what might be going on below the surface of my mind to cause an illness. I identified something touchy I was worrying about which would need resolving after I disembarked. I didn’t need to try to get rid of it. Just recognizing it as a possible cause of illness was enough. Seeing it bob to the surface sapped its harmful power.)
Since then I have believed that an impulse to beg God for anything should be handled by strong commands rather than beseeching prayer. I now see each of us as a kind of lens which can focus the infinite power of the Source, of God, to satisfy a particular desire – whether it be for health, for love, for a job, for a home, or for safety from some catastrophe.
There is a lot more to be said on this subject, particularly because many people feel that at times an important “beseeching” prayer actually has been answered, but for now I want to conclude with a story that confirms my belief.
During the tsunami of the day after Christmas, 2004, which took thousands of lives, there must have been thousands of unfulfilled prayers offered up. But one man, a minister, tells of his experience as he was strove to escape the tsunami waves in a small boat with children from his orphanage: Instead of kneeling down and praying, he held up his arms and commanded in the name of his God, in a spirit of determination and strong confidence. . .
“With every second, the wall of sea-water came closer and closer. Something miraculous had to happen if we were going to get out of this alive. It was at that moment, faced with certain death, that a Scripture verse from the Bible popped into my mind.
And I just stretched my hands and I said (based on the strength of the Scriptures where it says that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against it), ‘I command you [wave] in the name of Jesus, stop!'
“The wall of water that was seconds away from engulfing us began to slow down. It became sluggish, it was straining against what I thought at the moment was some invisible wall. It was trying to break free, but something was holding it back. The only force or power that could have stopped it was the power of God. And God, with His power slowed it down and stopped the wave for us, and gave us the time to get away."
Witnesses from a distance confirmed the story.
That sounds unnatural because from the beginning we are encouraged to feel just the opposite. Our parents are in charge, our teachers, our bosses, our government are in charge – not even to mention the buffetings of “fate” and “chance” which knock us here and there. Even in an apparently equal friendship or marriage one of the pair usually seems more “in charge” than the other, and not because either person intends it or is even conscious of it.
For now I’m going to address how “You’re in charge” relates to prayer.
My religious indoctrination was in the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Florida. There was a great deal of bowing down and begging in prayers, which occured from the beginning of Sunday School to the end of the main service. There was even a small clique of creaky men in the “Amen Corner” in some front pews who didn’t feel that Preacher McCall’s long prayers were sufficient in length or in pleas for forgiveness or in reminders of the threat of damnation, and my child’s heart sank when one of those old scarecrows rose to address the Lord because I knew it would take at least ten minutes for the Lord to be fully informed of what presumably He knew in the first place. Meanwhile I would start a counter-prayer to make the Amen Corner's prayer shorter.
I learned that the purpose of prayer was to ask God for things, usually a long list of things, and to thank God for giving you things that you had asked for before. God apparently didn’t have a very good memory because every Sunday he had to be reminded again to bless and guide the church, the entire congregation, our missionaries, the Southern Baptist Convention, our President, our House of Representatives, our Senate, and of course to open the hearts of the heathens to salvation.
I noted that something like this was going on all over the world, all the time. How could God possibly pay attention to those millions upon millions of requests, and how did He decide which favors to grant?
I paid a lot of attention to prayer, and I prayed a lot myself, and after years I was forced to recognize that prayer did not work. Prayer as I’d learned it simply did not accomplish its purpose. A whole congregation praying for Brother Jones’ swift recovery resulted in his promptly dying. Hurricanes and tsunamis and bombs destroyed churches filled with people praying for divine deliverance. My prayers for material things proved less effective than my Santa Claus wish list.
To make it worse, it seemed that in prayer contests between conflicting nations and their armies, the side of justice lost the war at least as often as the unjust. I knew that many prayers surrounded sports events, but someone always lost.
Then, one day, it came to me: Don’t ask. Command.
I was on an ocean liner returning alone from Europe, looking forward to the voyage and the delicious food, when I was suddenly hit with all the symptoms of flu. Here I am, eager for the joys of the ocean and a reunion on the far shore, and I’m sentenced to at least a week of misery. For the first hour of fever and weakness I could hardly bring myself to stand up, but as I thought about all that I would miss -- not least the midnight buffets -- I became irrationally defiant.
I sat up and began to give orders to my body. Instead of praying to Somebody out there, I commanded all the cells of my body to bring an immediate cure. I ordered that the fever be gone, all the symptoms be gone, and that I be healthy and filled with energy.
Within minutes those things were true. Incredibly the illness lifted like fog giving way to bright sun. I felt wonderful relief. I was soon walking happily and gratefully on the deck looking forward to dinner. I was entirely well.
(I think it helped that I also tried to identify what might be going on below the surface of my mind to cause an illness. I identified something touchy I was worrying about which would need resolving after I disembarked. I didn’t need to try to get rid of it. Just recognizing it as a possible cause of illness was enough. Seeing it bob to the surface sapped its harmful power.)
Since then I have believed that an impulse to beg God for anything should be handled by strong commands rather than beseeching prayer. I now see each of us as a kind of lens which can focus the infinite power of the Source, of God, to satisfy a particular desire – whether it be for health, for love, for a job, for a home, or for safety from some catastrophe.
There is a lot more to be said on this subject, particularly because many people feel that at times an important “beseeching” prayer actually has been answered, but for now I want to conclude with a story that confirms my belief.
During the tsunami of the day after Christmas, 2004, which took thousands of lives, there must have been thousands of unfulfilled prayers offered up. But one man, a minister, tells of his experience as he was strove to escape the tsunami waves in a small boat with children from his orphanage: Instead of kneeling down and praying, he held up his arms and commanded in the name of his God, in a spirit of determination and strong confidence. . .
“With every second, the wall of sea-water came closer and closer. Something miraculous had to happen if we were going to get out of this alive. It was at that moment, faced with certain death, that a Scripture verse from the Bible popped into my mind.
And I just stretched my hands and I said (based on the strength of the Scriptures where it says that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against it), ‘I command you [wave] in the name of Jesus, stop!'
“The wall of water that was seconds away from engulfing us began to slow down. It became sluggish, it was straining against what I thought at the moment was some invisible wall. It was trying to break free, but something was holding it back. The only force or power that could have stopped it was the power of God. And God, with His power slowed it down and stopped the wave for us, and gave us the time to get away."
Witnesses from a distance confirmed the story.
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