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Essays on Discover the Power Within You
To Whom Do We Pray?
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Is God Principle or Personality? Does Anyone hear our prayers, or are
we just trying to cheer ourselves on?
We know that Abraham, the father of the Jews (who represent spiritual
seekers), worshiped the living God. He did this because he realized that
God existed in his awareness, and his awareness was within himself. As
he was living, he recognized that God must be living too.
I always suspect those who say God must be this or God must be that.
Too often they describe the limitations of their own patterns of thought,
and nothing more.
For example, some people say that God never changes, because God is
perfect, and perfection is changeless. But they are only describing the
small circle that their dependence on words takes them in.
They make the same mistake as a child who thinks that infinity is a
number like a million, only bigger. Infinity is a concept, not a number,
and a mathematician would be happy to tell you that there are many different
kinds of infinities.
Perfection is also a concept, in the same way that infinity is. And
there are many kinds of perfections. When we apply the concept of infinity,
we decide to stop counting the items because we recognize the concept of
limitation in the quality of magnitude no longer applies to the situation.
When we apply the concept of perfection to God, we must recognize that
the absence of limitation in the quality of expression is present. We can
say God is in this and God is in that, and we can say it until we have
named every thing in the universe. But we are no closer to God.
The perfection of God is that he is changeless and yet is the source
of all change. What is changeless is the universal law or principle.
We all agree there is God. We do not all agree what the nature of God
is or his relation to man.
Now some would say, what about the atheists and the agnostics? They
reject the concept of God, or say it does not matter. And even some respected
theologians say God is dead.
What about the scientists, who seem to worship dead matter?
They have the greatest faith of all.
Suppose for a moment you believe only in the physical universe, complete
and in itself. Your greatest concept of perfection would be the entire
universe, taken as a whole. Yet even the most casual observation would
tell you that every part of the universe is changing every moment.
And by careful observation, you soon see that the process of change
occurs in cycles, and that principles seem to be in action in every case.
This is the point to which the modern scientist has been led by his
powers of observation and the application of his reasoning to those observations.
The scientist investigates the universe by assuming that there is a
principle behind every change, that he can learn those principles by observation
and reasoning, and that he can find a way to apply those principles to
cause the change he wants.
If we each had this degree of faith about our own existence, what magnificent
lives we would all lead!
The scientists' concept of perfection is that principle or law applies
in every situation. Nothing exists in the universe we live in except according
to the laws of that universe. Those laws apply every place equally and
without favoritism.
That is what God is for a scientist. An individual might balk at applying
that label to his conception of the operation of the universe, but we can
apply it for him. In its simplist form, we can say the awareness of God
is the recognition that the universe operates according to cause and effect,
and that we can apply the cause and produce the effect.
Even the less disciplined mind of the indifferent agnostic knows better
than to drive his car off of a cliff. The law of gravity is a perfect law
that needs no judge nor jury.
The universal laws are always true, and we follow them to the degree
of our understanding and ability.
To some degree, this following takes place unconsciously. We do not
stop and think that air is necessary for our health, that we need more
air, and then take a breath. We believe as we breathe.
The spiritual seeker takes the concept of God and expands it to be more
all-encompassing. He believes that there are laws that underlie the physical
laws, and that these laws operate within himself as well as in the outer
world.
He believes that he can investigate these laws thru observing his own
life, using the instrument of his own mind. He believes he can apply what
he learns, and increase the effects he desires, and decrease the effects
he does not want.
The scientist investigates physical laws with physical instruments.
He then builds machines that correspond to the laws he has discovered.
These machines do useful work for him.
The seeker investigates mental laws with his own mental instru- ment,
his mind. He then builds new thought patterns that take advantage of the
mental laws he has discovered, to do useful work for him.
Our scientific revolution began because men dared to question what everyone
already knew. They admitted the possibility that what they had already
learned might be in error. They applied a method of investigation to everything
within reach, and came up with new ideas that served them better.
The true spiritual seeker would be wise to follow this example. If you
would increase your spiritual progress, review your own thoughts and behavior
in the light of the spiritual principles you have come to accept.
This then is the first part of prayer.
The scientist rejects prayer because he misunderstands it to be seeking
favoritism from the law. How could the principle of gravity favor one person
over another? What nonsense!
But a serious study of gravity and of motion led us to rockets, which
go up and never come down. We did not violate gravity, but we studied to
understand its consequences and mode of action, then used our understanding
to produce the effect we desired.
We can do the same with our lives and our minds.
Are there principles that go beyond physical law to produce consequences
in our lives? This question is too important to leave to another's investigation.
Find out for yourself by experimenting with your own life.
If you do discover mental or spiritual principle operating in your life,
and you want to increase your understanding of this process, what can you
do?
Pray.
Set your thoughts to thinking about thought. Seek spiritual cause for
each effect you see in your life. Look for consistent principle, impersonal
law, acting through your mind.
We would be benefitted by seeing prayer in a new way. Rather than seeing
prayer as a certain quantity of thought, we could see prayer as we see
infinity or perfection, as a quality. Every thought contains the quality
of prayer, because it reforms our thinking process itself.
If we recognize that the spiritual laws work from within us, it would
make sense to take our attention inward to the point where those laws begin,
to see and use the laws at their source. This is prayer.
If we acknowledge and accept the operation of law, we strengthen and
accelerate its effect in our lives. This is because we apply the same law
consistently, without changing direction. This is prayer.
We begin by pretending that what we desire has already come to pass.
This places our attention in the future, where the operation of the laws
begins.
We think in pictures, because that is the method of communicating meaning
to the inner part of our mind that exists before words have their birth.
We pretend, because this is the creative aspect of our thinking. It
is inaccurate to think that you will be limited in the future to what you
have expressed in the past. Take responsibility for the creative process
of your thought. This is prayer.
Many metaphysicians are stalemated by the question of whether God has
the quality of personality. Certainly we come from God, and we definitely
have this quality. Jesus called the God of the Jews (who were so impressed
by this question that they refused to speak his Name) DaDa. Not a stiffly
formal Father, but DaDa (Abba).
How can the kingdom of God express fully in the physical world that
is so often ruled by the whims of the conscious ego, without taking on
the quality of personality?
To share your awareness of God with all the parts of your mind, allow
this awareness to be personal. Try it for a while and see if it works for
you. If it does, continue to use it. This is prayer.
Recognise that a part of your mind lives and moves and has its being
in the place where the universal or spiritual laws operate directly and
purely. That part of you has the ability to create anything you desire,
when you make up your mind and are ready to receive it. This is prayer.
To pray is to align the inner and outer parts of your own mind in a
manner that allows your inner thought to become your outer reality. It
is a communication of outer desire and its transformation into an acceptance
of the form of expression that your inner good is able to provide.
When you accept the operation of the law, then your word becomes law.
This is prayer.
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