The Power of True Prayer
In this special season of the year it is natural for us to consider the countless miracles that have inspired humanity’s awe, reverence and celebration throughout the eras of recorded history, humbly questioning whether the state that engendered these miracles can be duplicated by us today. Many feel it can, having witnessed evidence of it in their lives and the lives of others.
The question is: how can we enter this divine state? How can we attain the state of enlightenment that naturally leads to the dissolution of error and the evidence of Truth? One way is certainly through prayer. But we would have to ask what kind of prayer could so transform our consciousness that a miracle would appear as a result. Tempting as it may be, pleading with an unknown god for what we want is not this kind of prayer. For it is not transformative. It is only a rehearsal of our needs and desires, and regardless of whether it is well intended or not, it proceeds from an underlying assumption that the god to whom we pray can be influenced by the strength of our supplication. In addition, its point of view is so limited and personal it fails to take into account the chaos that would reign if all of man’s personal prayers were answered in the affirmative. It fails to realize that the prayer that brings lasting results proceeds from a consciousness that is completely surrendered to divine intent, one that trusts that the Intelligence behind this intent will, by its very nature, generate only that which would bless the entire universe, not just a single person or part. Thereby, if we are wise we will turn within to this Divine Intelligence, quieting the voices and images deluging our thought so we may hear its message, accessing the intuitive faculty within us to do so. Should this message be incompatible with our beliefs, we must be willing to give up these beliefs, adopting the higher, more comprehensive, perspective Divine Intelligence is revealing.
Despite the temptation to do otherwise, we must keep this revelation, this insight, in the forefront of our attention, having absolute faith it will alter whatever needs to be altered as it brings healing into our lives; that coming from Divine Intelligence, as it does, it cannot help but demonstrate the power inherent within this Intelligence, a power derived from the omnipotent all-knowing Mind of Being. Regardless of what we seem to experience or observe as this comes to pass, we must be willing to yield to the process, accepting that the Divine Mind knows better than we do how this healing is to be occur; that all we need to do is get out of the way, giving up any reservation, doubt or objection that could cause our resistance; that we simply need to stand back and watch the process unfold without reacting or attaching to the transitional appearances that surface. In the end the hoped for healing may not turn out as we have envisioned. For, being divinely impelled, it is a spiritual healing, not a material one. Yet, as spiritual healing occurs on every level of experience, it can most certainly evidence as the miracle our heart desires. Either way, the fruits of the Spirit will be flowing into our lives, blessing us in ways we have yet to understand. Let us embrace what it is bringing us with a grateful and forgiving heart, expecting big and small miracles at every turn.
Miracles require change, not just external change, but internal change, the kind that brings us ever closer to the divinity of our being, to the sacred identity that belongs to each and every one of us at core. As we begin to re-inhabit our sacred identity we find the unbounded nature of our sacred identity transmuting the limited, constrained nature of the ego-body that has seemed to take its place, transforming its physical sense perception of life and the universe into the heightened spiritual perception that instinctively senses a very different world, a holistic world in which all is identified with Spirit, with Soul, where not one aspect of our individual or collective being is destabilized or in need of healing.
Without the ego-body we are intact, whole, joyous and free, instinctively responsive to the government of an infinite omnipotent Principle, so aligned and at one with it that it regulates and governs every aspect of our life. True prayer, the prayer that brings us miracles, is a prayer that observes the universe from the standpoint of this Principle, understanding that nothing has ever been cut off from its power or presence. It is a prayer that understands that all is One undivided, omni-organizing, self-regulating, whole, operating at peak efficiency on every level of experience, including the level of our current observation. It is only a matter of our consistently interpreting life from this holistic vantage point, of submitting ourselves to Being’s timeless cybernetic self-steering system, letting it operate unimpeded in our lives. At one time or another, we have all done this and our experience has been positively altered because of it. The challenge, if one can call it that, is to stay centered in the One, letting its all-powerful Principle operate as us, letting it regulate and govern every aspect of our being and experience. It is being that aware, that surrendered, so willing to yield the personal sense of ourselves we are at Principle’s command from morning till night.
When we understand our undying connection with Being, understand that we are not, nor have we ever been, cut off from its omnipotent Life-Force, that it alone empowers us and gives us life, nothing stands in the way of our reception of this life. Its divine energy fills every facet of our being and experience, giving to us and blessing us in ways we never could have imagined, supplying us with more than we could ever need or want. It’s creativity is pouring into our being, its ideas translating to every facet of our lives. When we truly understand our oneness with Being, with Life, all sense of lack dissolves. Only abundance remains, abundance of every kind, including the abundance of life energy that insures our divine continuance. Even now we can be so one with Life that we feel this divine energy flowing into our life, mutating us from time into the timelessness of being, into a state where entropy and death have no sting.
True prayer is all about raising our consciousness, lifting it to a state that is so awake, so aware and transmuted, it can see beyond the errors of disease and destruction to the wholeness that exists beneath them. It is operating from this standpoint, trusting that wholeness can and will manifest on every level of appearance, including the level that currently validates error as if it were real. Enlightenment transmutes this false validation. It enables us to realize that error is only a misunderstanding of Truth and cannot be contained within the consciousness that is aware of Truth. Miracles are not, in reality, miracles. They are the demonstration of what is true and real, the manifestation of the wholeness that is intrinsic to Being and, as such, intrinsic to our being. Nothing has the power to prevent us from realizing this wholeness or the Truth from which it springs, witnessing its evidence, witnessing what the world would call a miracle.
So if you are seeking a miracle for yourself or for the world, I would humbly implore you to turn to the infinite Mind of Being as the source of your miracle, accepting that it alone has the capacity to envision, generate and coordinate the details of the miracle you seek. I would ask you to move into the purest place in your heart, that pristine place that is so open to Spirit it naturally reflects its positivity and goodness, accepting that this goodness is meant for everyone and everything, including you. I would ask you to discover what it is like to be selfless, not self-sacrificing, but selfless, without the ego that imperils your identity, finding in this selfless state a heightened sensitivity, one that enables you to instinctively shift into alignment with the divine and eternal Principle that organizes and operates the universe. For only then can this Principle operate efficiently in your life, regulating and governing every aspect of it, coordinating and integrating you with all that comprises the universe. Only as we understand and accept our relationship with this divine Principle, can we find our true relationship with everyone and everything that makes up the universe, living in harmony with all as we are meant to. Every expression within the universe is precious. We need to understand why and allow it to be precious to us as well, accepting it as we find it, yet realizing with absolute certainty that each expression is more than we believe it to be at this moment, much much more; that it is an integral part of a perfectly conceived universe, impelled, energized and enlivened by the omnipotent Life-force of Being. Regardless of how we may perceive humanity or any other life form right now or how it may perceive itself, we need to acknowledge that at core it is as noble and righteous as Being Itself.
We need to acknowledge that, in reality, we are all consciously conscious, whole, complete and fulfilled, no appearance of disease or destruction marring the form of our expression. In reality, we are all fully present, so multidimensionally consciously present, we cannot fall heir to fear or the multitudinous byproducts of fear. If we would witness a miracle, we must first become this miracle, first become the enlightened consciousness that understands wholeness and the underlying unity that exists in the universe of being. We must understand ourselves as an integral spiritual presence within Being’s universe. As we do, we will experience the miracles we seek.