I have a friend whose life is a wreck. I don't say this in a mean way; he will tell
you the same. He is fully aware that his
life is a wreck. He and I have discussed
it at great length many times. That
his life is a wreck is a projection of his.
In his heart he believes he is essentially a loser so that is exactly
what the universe gives him. Nothing
could be further from the truth though, he is not a loser; he just believes he
is. This belief of his means he is
praying to be a loser. He is always
struggling, always just barely getting by, always calling himself a loser
because he is struggling. It is a
vicious circle. In reality his prayers are
being answered by the universe.
I tell him, "Mark, if you really
wanted it, and you asked for it, you would get it." I tell him, "If you really wanted to
change your life it would happen instantly." He just looks at me. He doesn’t get it. Last time we talked I told him I felt like I
was a physicist attempting to explain the universe to him when he doesn’t
understand gravity. The gap seems to be
that great. I realize it is a failing on
my part to say it such that he will understand, but at the end of the day, it
is his to understand. The truth is, he
is not willing to pay the price. The
truth is he doesn't “feel” ready to change yet.
Essentially we are all praying all the time whether we know it or
not. The universe is always giving us exactly
what we believe.
I cannot say there is an order to prayer,
it must all happen at once, but because our minds have trouble grasping
something complex as a single whole I will break it down a bit by putting an
order to it. Please know though, there
is no linear order in reality. It all happens at once. Maybe by the end of this you will see more
clearly what I mean.
Understand too, that I use religious jargon
because that is the culture I live in.
Whatever religion you choose they will all say similar things. At least, all the ones I have ever read about
do.
First, for a prayer to be answered, one
must be willing to pay the price. In
spiritual matters, spiritual here means the unseen, spiritual here is all the
stuff science has not yet figured out regarding physics, suffering is the most
common term. Religions have been
describing physics for a long time in spiritual language. They are actually the same exact thing. Scientist, mystics, preachers, and priests
are the same thing in different form. In
spiritual matters, to the mind of human beings, suffering is the price. It actually isn’t suffering; that is simply how
we perceive it in this culture of ours.
I will use sports because it is such an
easy metaphor to use. Let's say I wanted
to be a marathon runner. The price for being
a marathon runner is steep. A marathon
is 26.2 miles long. One must be
dedicated. One must give up all kinds of
things, parties, late nights, junk food, drinking. One must run almost every day, eat right,
sleep right. One must be in tune with
their body to prevent injuries. One must
have friends who run too; one must socialize with other runners. One must study running, and do different
trainings. If one is not willing to pay
this price, one will never become a marathon runner.
Another price that is easily overlooked is
attachment to thoughts. My friend Mark
for instance, he is not willing to pay the price of giving up his current
beliefs, especially about himself, to get what it is he says he wants. He is afraid to lose the sense of himself
that he has about himself. He is holding
onto those beliefs for all he is worth because he "thinks" those
beliefs are actually him. He is not
willing to give up his own sense of himself, even though this sense he has of
himself is a lie his ego repeats in his mind.
To be the thing he 'thinks' he wants to be he has to change. So you see he is not willing to pay the
price. He says he wants to not struggle,
but if that were really true, he would do whatever it took. This generates a great deal of fear in people. The sense of losing a sense of one’s self is
terrifying to most people. They don’t
realize that the Self cannot be changed by our thoughts. Our Self is eternal. They don’t realize their belief about their
self is really just that, a belief. It
is not grounded in reality at all. The belief
is simply reflected back towards us like light bouncing off a mirror. My friend Mark is NOT a loser, he simply
believes he is, and thus, he makes it true.
This “price” is the one thing that hangs up
most of the world.
Second, one must "feel" it with
all their heart. I put quotes on the
word feel here because I do not mean some feeling like the typical sensory
perception feeling. Take my brother,
whom I love very much as an example. My
feeling of love for him is not because of him, it radiates from me to him. When someone hurts my feelings though, that
is from the outside, like touching something hot. The sun, for instance, is hot whether I
believe it or not. That is a sensory feeling,
which is a feeling I have because of something outside myself. The sun is radiating to me like I radiate my
love to my brother. The sensory feeling
is giving me information about my environment and I get to choose what I do with
that information. Can you see the difference
between to two? The “feeling” I speak of
here is one in which I radiate myself, outwards into the universe. When I feel that I am worthy of love, it
radiates outwards from me, is reflected back to me, thus I see it when I look
in the mirror. When I truly "feel"
I believe. So when I say I love my
brother, there is no doubt whatsoever; it is a fact. It doesn’t depend on him; it just is. Feelings coming from the outside do depend on
him, because he is the one radiating that energy. If I wished I could hide in a cave and never
see the light of the sun.
My friend Mark is at a perpetual fork in
the road. He is on that vicious circle,
but the fork which would take him off of the circle is always there waiting for
him. For every step he takes, a new fork
appears in the road just ahead of him waiting to be taken. Doesn't this sound very similar to religious jargon? Religious jargon is full of descriptions of
this phenomenon. Christians say that god
knows what you want before one even asks.
Mystics say that the answer to your prayers is always right before you,
all one needs to do is open their eyes to see it. This phenomenon is not god, but is simply
physics. Historically people have
attributed what they do not understand to some god or other. Christ was merely explaining how it works in
terms that the people of that time would understand much like I am doing here
and now. Christ had no choice but to use
the religious language of the times he was in.
I believe Christ went to the churches of his day because that is where
you find people in large groups who are seeking the truth. It had nothing to do with a god.
Maybe a day will come and Mark will be so
tired of suffering the vicious circle he is stuck in that he will say, "I
cannot take it anymore. I will do
anything to make it different. I will do
whatever it takes." When that day
comes, his prayer will be answered immediately.
It will be instant. Let’s pray
for him!
That's it!
Crazy huh? It is that
simple. There is nothing more to
it. It is not some complicated thing. I can’t think of a simpler way to describe
it. If you pray, and your prayer is not
answered, you must look deeper inside yourself.
It means you are not being honest with yourself regarding the price, it
means you do not really 'feel' it. It means you do not really believe it. If your prayer is not answered there is still
fear in your heart. Fear of the
price. Fear of the change. Fear of any kind will stop the prayer from
happening. As they say, one cannot know
god and be afraid at the same time. If
there is fear, then fear is the “feeling” being projected. Your fear is the prayer.
This is why so many hold to their beliefs
in a god despite all evidence otherwise.
Having a connection with some god helps people deal with paying the
price, and it also helps them "feel" as they should in order to get
what it is they are seeking. Belief in
god also gives them a copout should they not get what they asked for. They can just say, "Everything happens for a reason." or, "God must not want it to happen." This belief in a god, in this way, inhibits
one from taking full responsibility for one’s own beliefs.
Speaking from personal experience as one
raised Christian, it was difficult to relearn how to pray and no longer be
talking to some imaginary being up in the sky.
It took a long time to realize the power is within me and not some guy in
the sky. This requires one to take
responsibility for all that happens.
That is scary scary stuff if you have never done it before. As human beings it is so much easier to 'feel'
when it is directed towards another. In
reality though, it doesn't matter what you believe, it only matters that you do
believe. No matter what you believe; it
will be. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t
have their own beliefs.
This is how one can realize what it is they
really believe. Open your eyes and see
what is right before you. See what it is
that is being reflected back to you. It
is your beliefs that make it so. This is
why they say fear rules the world. When
breaking free of religious dogma the world suddenly seems a scary place
indeed. I have been there. Most people just stay there safe and sound,
so they think, tucked away in their church.
They never realize the truth. Which
one are you?