June 2, 2020
Dear Friends,
These last weeks I have been giving talks on prayer, meditation, the Silence and praying for and/or with others. In the process of reflection and the construction of these talks, I have come to realize more and more about both the nature and purpose of prayer in the Unity context.
We pray for many things, especially those things closest to our hearts. We pray for guidance, we pray for loved ones, we pray for strength, courage and healing. We pray for miracles. We pray that our lives may be rich, whole and complete in every way.
Our lives are already rich, whole and complete – we’re just not aware of it.
To pray for anything is an act that demonstrates two things –
1. A presence, a power, a divinity, a God Almighty outside of ourselves
2. A condition of perceived lack
Our Unity philosophy, or theology if you like, clearly states that God is not a person. Nor is God an entity. God is not a separate energy that indwells us.
Rather than a Being, God is Beingness. God is not a noun, but a verb – movement, energy, vitality, animation, and creative expansion. This is exactly how Jesus spoke of God within the prayer we have come to call the Lord’s prayer.
In Aramaic he addressed God as Abwoon, Father. At its various roots, Abwoon refers to pure Oneness, a flow of blessing, breath, radiance, and becoming.
By this understanding, God does not live in us, but God is life living as us. That’s the real basis of our spiritual Reality and the real basis of our power. God is Oneness. God is Absolute Good. As God is wholeness and completeness so I am whole and complete.
In our relative lives, though, we don’t always perceive ourselves to be whole and complete. Most of the time we are out of awareness of our wholeness. We are more aware of what we are not and under the belief that we are in need – in need of health, peace, prosperity, love, order, whatever it is that our humanness longs for.
What do you long for? Right now, when you look into your heart of hearts, what do you long for. What do you feel an ache for?
The spiritual life is not about manifesting cures or reliving our inner aches, it’s about growing a consciousness of Oneness, a realization that I already have and already am what I seek.
Establishing a bedrock of this kind of consciousness is the purpose of prayer and meditation. Not the kind of prayer expressing eloquent words, passionate verse, or regimented ritual – but prayer as the profound resting in the Silence.
This kind of prayer is the fruit of slowing down, taking time, and being open. It’s extreme vulnerability that requires an equal amount of courage – the courage to let go of our temporal wants so that we may realize our eternal Truth.
Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and I believe that he was right. Unity metaphysics certainly support it. And, once again going back to The Lord’s Prayer, the Aramaic expression for heaven is d’bwashmaya – life, breath, energy, frequency, light and movement. Isn’t that what we are? Isn’t that what all life is? Aren’t these the very indicators of the presence of life? Death, by contrast, is pronounced when breath ceases, when brain electrical impulses halt, when movement is no more.
Every challenge we face is a gift, a wake-up call, an invitation to realize our spiritual Truth.
Illness is an invitation to realize our wholeness
Chaos is an invitation to realize order and harmony.
Financial challenges are an invitation to realize abundance.
Fear is an invitation to realize faith.
Mistakes are an invitation to realize wisdom.
And so on with every situation out of alignment with Divine Ideas, otherwise known as the 12 powers.
A rich, full life comes at a cost. Living richly and fully requires that we give up control, that we release our temporal wants and all the ways we try to fulfill them. It askes us to surrender what we know and to embrace what is yet to come into visibility. It demands faith. It invites us to surrender our egos as the directors of our impulses.
A rich, full life can be experienced anywhere at any time. There are no limits or special conditions. Full aliveness isn’t dependent on adrenaline or short-term rushes of excitement or pleasure.
Rather, it is the experience of waking up to Oneness, being in alignment with Divine Truth and raising consciousness. And we can do that with a change of a thought or a shift in perception.
I have a little homework assignment that might help with this.
Make a list of the 12 Powers
Love
Life
Power
Renunciation
Will
Faith
Wisdom
Understanding
Order
Imagination
Strength
Zeal
Whenever you feel a need or a sense of lack in your life, corelate it with its respective power and, in prayer, affirm that power as your I AM.
As you practice remembering, as you practice gathering your scattered parts together into Oneness, you will experience your life changing and as you turn more and more away from the world of wants and distractions towards the kingdom of heaven expressing as you, all will be given unto you.
Your lives are precious, whole and lovely – live them fully.
Blessings Always,
Rev. Patty