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Absolutely Yours
Spiritual Power For Daily Living
Category Archives: Prayer
Effortless Prayer
Allen, I read and enjoy your blog. My problem is that when I sit down to pray or contemplate, it always seems to be a struggle. After a while, I just give up. Any suggestions?
Struggle and effort should never be mentioned in the same sentence with prayer. Prayer, true prayer, is a peace-filled and joyous adventure. When effort and tension start prowling around the “prayer closet,” something is off. And usually, it’s the focus.
In most cases, effort shows up when the prayer focus is on getting or getting rid of something. Usually it’s an emergency or troubling situation where a quick resolution is wanted. Nothing good will come out of such praying or contemplating. It can’t.
Think about it. If what drives you to pray (and I use that term interchangeably with meditate or contemplate) is the problem, your attention is on the problem. Your attention is on the very thing that seems to be making you anxious and fearful. What can you expect but more anxiety and more struggle? For all that effort, you might as well stop praying and go lift a set of eighty-pound dumbbells.
Remember the Golden Rule of Prayer: Start with God, stay with God and end with God. Proper prayer is God Realization. The intent is God Realization and the result is God Realization. The absolute truth is that prayer hasn’t actually started until the moment of Realization.
If you find yourself restless at the outset of prayer, examine your motive. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” If your honest answer is, “I’m praying to get or fix something,” get up and do something else. Come back when your motive is purely for God (Self) realization.
Reader, have you ever sunk into the cozy comfort of an overstuffed armchair? That’s what it feels like when prayer starts with a right motive.
But, what if you can’t settle into prayer? What if the pain is so bad, or the condition so overwhelming that you can’t shake the struggle? YOU CAN! You are constituted that way. Remember, your Identity is God-Identified. Using the Sit and Repeat Method, you are going to get back to true prayer.
First, establish your motive – the joy of God Realization. When you sit down to pray, as soon as you feel anxious, get up. Do anything enjoyable. Ten minutes or so later, sit down to pray again. At the first sign of a struggle, again get up. Repeat this cycle until you can sink into the Realization of God’s Allness. You will, and you will on the very same day you try this method.
Notice, I have not addressed the problem that seemed to alarm you. That’s because once you are aware that God is All, the seeming problem will no longer be a concern. Why should it? You’ve already discovered that right there where the problem seemed to be, GOD IS.
The Solution For Stubborn Problems Pt. 2
So far, we’ve established our foundation:
- Don’t tolerate any appearance of imperfection – no matter how long-standing.
- Don’t give in to the appearance.
If it seems as though your problem is still clinging like a tree monkey, it’s time for more decisive action – the activity of God realization. From this point forward you’re going to move beyond all of your frustration and confusion.
Perhaps doubt has snuck in through the back door of your frustration, and you thought, “This Truth isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.” You’re going to move beyond this illusion of a doubting mind to embark on the most thrilling adventure of your life. I mean it. Despite the many pleasures and happy moments you have enjoyed, nothing compares to what is about to happen for you.
The thrill of discovering a God-fact via direct revelation is matchless. Why? Because that God-fact, revealed, shows up as a so-called “healing” of the problem. Let’s start the adventure.
LOVE YOUR PROBLEM
Don’t fear it! Don’t resent it! Love your problem! Love it. Not because it is real, but for what it can reveal. If you’ve endured a long-standing problem, you’ve probably said many times, “Why is this happening to me? After all the Truth I know, how could this happen to me?” Loving your problem is going to reveal exactly what is happening.
The problem, no matter how long-standing exists (or at least seems to) for one purpose – to draw your attention to a specific God-fact. Once the God-fact is known, the problem has served its purpose. The God-fact reveals a Truth of God, and in the wake of that revelation is the perception of God’s presence right where the problem seemed to be. Had the problem not appeared in the first place, most people would not be steadfast and faithful in wanting to move beyond their present understanding of God’s Allness.
I HAD A PROBLEM AND LOVED IT BECAUSE …
It was not a long-standing problem, but one that seemed life-threatening. All night I was in and out of silent, God-focused listening prayer. The revelation that came forth was a watershed moment completely changing my perception of the Body. For that reason, I loved the problem. Otherwise, I would not have been pushed to go beyond my present understanding of the Body.
Is the problem necessary in order to discover the God-fact? Absolutely not! But let’s be honest. Most people pray more fervently when things are going wrong. And that’s when more God-facts are realized. Do you see why I urge you to love your problem? The God-fact that it is turning your attention to is priceless.
DISCOVERING THE GOD-FACT
It’s time to turn and see exactly what God-fact your seeming problem is signaling. God-facts cannot be reasoned out. God-facts cannot be intellectually discerned. They can only be revealed by way of silent, listening prayer. There are many ways to approach this, but I’m suggesting two.
Go Directly For The Fact
After you’ve settled in and are ready to listen and “hear,” simply ask your God-Consciousness, “What is the Truth I most need to realize?” You ask and you listen. Repeat if necessary. In this approach, you are totally bypassing the seeming difficulty and your total focus is on the spiritual discovery of a God-fact.
The Springboard Approach
This is the approach favored by many. I think it’s because the seeming problem is at least addressed, and then immediately dismissed. Here you start with the problem and use it as a trampoline to spring to greater awareness of God’s Allness.
After you’ve settled in and are ready to “hear,” you lay it all out on the table as it appears to be. Below is an example:
It seems that I’ve been suffering from kidney pain for the last fifteen years. The doctors say that it is due to a rupture of some type and that I need surgery. Sometimes the pain is unbearable, and I can barely move. Then, I spend the rest of the day in bed. This is all what appears to be, but what is the Truth I need to know?
That last sentence is the most important. Again, you ask and listen, and repeat if necessary. In either approach, you continue until the Revelation of the God-fact is experienced. Your question may be, “But what about my problem?”
Problems, long-standing or otherwise, remind me of the Mission Impossible movies. Have you ever seen one? The adventure-packed film opens with Ethan receiving a plain envelope. Inside there is a gadget with the IMF mission that concludes with “Your mission, should you decide to accept it ….” After that, the device self-destructs. Problems alert your attention to a God-fact. Once the God-fact is discovered, the (seeming) problem self-destructs. Or, in spiritual language, its “something” is revealed and evidenced to be nothing.
Why Are You Praying?
Learning how to pray effectively is the best gift you can give yourself. Let’s face it. Most prayers fail to deliver the goods. They fail to heal. They fail to prosper. They fail to fix the broken places in our lives. This has always been the case. James, the brother of Jesus, addresses this issues in his epistle: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.” (James 4:3)
What Christians are doing with prayer perplexes me. It’s so unlike what Christ Jesus did and taught. Can you recall an instance of Jesus begging and beseeching God to heal a sick person? Can you cite one instance in the Holy Bible where Christ Jesus gathers people to pray about human mishaps and catastrophes? Yet, Christians do both of these all of the time. Let’s get this prayer business right.
The other day I was sitting on the grounds of the National Cathedral (Washington, DC) reading a book. I watched a man toss peanuts to the squirrels scampering about. One squirrel snatched a peanut and scurried up a tree. Soon, a cluster of squirrels circled the man, hoping and waiting for a peanut. The squirrels quickly gobbled up the peanuts and came back for more. Do you think they were coming back for companionship? Do you think they cared about the man at all? No! These adorable rodents didn’t care about the giver. They cared about the gifts of the giver. Most people don’t seem to care about the realization of God. They want the gifts of God.
James explained why prayer fails. His explanation in the King James Version of the Bible is, “You pray amiss.” He wasn’t talking about the words that are said during prayer. He wasn’t talking about the postures assumed when praying – whether palms were facing toward the ground or skyward. He was talking about motive.
Here is how to boost the effectiveness of your prayers. Before you pray, meditate or contemplate, ask yourself this one question: WHY AM I PRAYING? Face your motives and answer that question honestly? Here are a few more:
- Am I praying to fix a troublesome situation?
- Am I praying to heal my body?
- Am I praying to get something?
- Am I praying to change someone?
- Am I praying for money?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you “pray amiss,” or with “wrong motives.” These prayers are bound to disappoint. Occasionally, I admit, these misdirected prayers seem to work, but in most cases they don’t.
Why are you praying? What is your motive? These are great questions, but the better question is “What constitutes the right motive for effective prayer?” If any of the following is your motive for praying, your prayer(s) will be successful:
- To realize the true nature of your identity
- To know via direct Revelation the nature of God
- To experience God’s Presence
“But how will my problems get solved if I don’t pray about them?” is the question many ask. Although you are not praying for health, money, success, peace or happiness, they happen as a result of right-focused prayer. Why? Because right-focused prayer reveals that you were never sick. It reveals that you never lacked happiness, prosperity, peace or success.
Right prayer reveals that you are always in your right place, doing the right thing in the right way. Right prayer reveals that you and Perfection IS ONE.
It’s no surprise that those who experience the fulfilling joy of right-focused prayer suddenly exclaim, “Now I see why Christ said ‘seek first the kingdom of God and all things will be added.'” They experience the thing they weren’t praying for as the added thing – the thing added to a greater realization of God.
All of this is to say, don’t be afraid to not pray about “it.” Don’t fear that if you don’t pray about “it,” nothing is being done. Leave “it” alone, and you will discover that there was never an “it” to pray about. GOD IS ALL.
Right Prayer Is Awesome
Are Your Prayers Self-Defeating?
In the last post, I ended with a promise to explain the insanity of trying to use Truth to improve your life. The fictitious runner’s story below is used to make a point.
For sixteen months, Imogene Franklin pushed her body through a tortuous training program. In the upcoming race, she wanted to beat the world record for the fifty-yard dash. On the day of the race, Imogene does something strange. At the starting block, she pulls a rope from her waistband and ties it around her ankles. The gun fires. The racers are off. Imogene, ankles tied together, falls flat on her stomach, scraping the side of her face. Why, after all those months of training, would she tie her ankles together? It was a self-defeating act. Wouldn’t you agree?
Did you make the connection between Imogene and people who are trying to use Truth to fix their lives? There is a connection.
Most likely, you are like many of our other readers. You agree that God is the only Presence. You believe that God is All. You, I’m sure believe – even know – that God is Perfection. Not merely perfect, but Perfection Itself. As God is omnipresent Perfection, there is no spot where Perfection is not. According to what you say you believe, this Perfection has to include every aspect of your life – the whole shebang!
Denying God’s Omnipresence But Still Wanting It
“Praying” with the intention to improve any aspect of your life is denying God’s Perfection being that aspect. Praying to improve any aspect of your life is affirming the absence of Perfection in and as that particular aspect. It’s like tying your ankles before the gun goes off. It’s self-defeating.
It does you no good to start your praying with the absence of God. Denying God’s ever present Perfection while hoping for it is being double minded. Nothing good can come from it. Reader, inherently you know that God is changeless. “I am the Lord thy God and I change not.” If God’s Perfection is not already present in, through and as the entirety of your life, it will never be present.
The thing to do is to realize that the allness of Perfection is all that there is as your life, mind, being and body. The thing to do is to realize that this Perfection is the only experience.
Betty, Joel Goldsmith, and Practical Prayer
Is it practical to not pray about your problems? Is it practical (as suggested in the previous post) to take your prayerful attention completely off of your seeming problems? It’s the most practical thing you can do. The following is a true story.
During one of my seminars in Arizona, I met a woman named Betty (name changed). Betty was a friend and student of Joel Goldsmith, founder of The Infinite Way. At the time of this story, Betty was a middle-aged woman seeking direction and purpose in her life. She was too vibrant to rock her life away watching games shows on television. Betty craved a purposeful and successful life. However, Betty knew that praying for purpose, success and money were spiritual no-nos. Remember, she was a close friend of Goldsmith’s. The core principle of Infinite Way is praying only for a realization of God. As impractical as this seemed, God-realization was her only focus.
On a trip to Washington, DC, Betty and a friend dined at one of those hifalutin restaurants in northwest DC. Her dinner companion excused himself to go to the restroom. While waiting for him to return, Betty fiddled with her linen napkin. She twisted and looped it into a unique shape. As soon as she was done with napkin-twisting, a beautiful and richly dressed woman came over to her table. Pointing to the napkin, she said to Betty, “Where did you get that?” Betty answered, “I just did this while waiting for my dinner companion.” The woman told Betty that she was the queen of some small country and was here visiting the embassy. “I am having a dinner hosted by the state department and would like to have 1000 of those for the guests. Can you have them for me in three days?”
Betty, a former restaurant owner, said “Yes.” Quickly she assembled a team of people to make the intricately twisted napkins for this royal occasion. This was the start of a high-end tableware company that became a multi-million dollar business.
Did she pray about her problem? No. Was her God-focused prayer practical? You decide. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God … and all things shall be added unto you.”
Prayer Project — It’s Fixed
I’ve been alerted that people have not been able to order the Prayer Project for several months. I looked into it and saw that some changes had to be made. Everything is up and running now. My apologies.
Now, you can get the Prayer Project.
Try This For Your Best Year Yet
Move Beyond Resolutions For Your Best Year Ever
Did you make any resolutions for the new year? Why? What are you hoping to accomplish? A better you? A better life? Please answer these questions.
Everyone would like for this so-called new year to be popping with success. People are craving a new and improved life. Most are hoping that this is the year that all their dreams come true. But, reader, you know that as high as these hopes are at the beginning of the year, things usually don’t work out that way. For a lot of folk, the new year ends up a dead ringer for the old year.
In this post, I’m offering you a suggestion that, if followed, will yield greater benefits than all of your resolutions – even if stuck to.
Here is the suggestion.
Take your prayerful attention off of your problems – completely. Stop trying to use Truth (God) to fix the seeming broken places of your life. When you pray, (contemplate, or whatever name you call it,) stop trying to heal your body, repair your relationship, get something, or get rid of something. This includes even the hope that something good will result from your praying.
Instead, let your prayers be for the joy of knowing and experiencing God.
I don’t usually use the word “metaphysical” in these posts, but for the moment the word serves my purpose. Because it is above (meta) all so-called physical phenomena, the suggestion above is the most metaphysical practice there is. It is the only true spiritual practice.
Putting It Into Practice
You may be asking, “How do I put this into practice?” The simple answer is to examine your motive. Whenever you “pray,” ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” If it is to fix, heal, or get, know that your prayer is off track. Then, ask yourself this question: “Am I willing to do this just for the joy of knowing, experiencing and contemplating the nature of God?” If your answer is an unqualified “Yes,” then proceed with your praying.
If, however, your answer is “No,” ask yourself one more question: “Am I willing to do this just for the joy of knowing, experiencing and contemplating the nature of God?” Willing is the magic word. If you answer “Yes” to this question, proceed with your praying.
Dealing With That Pesky Little Voice
As you read this are you thinking, “Allen, I get it, but when I sit down to pray that way, this little voice says ‘You’re lying. You really want to get healed. You really want to change this situation. You are not really interested in God.’”
Continue with your praying. Don’t fight this “voice.” It really is nothing. Let it “speak” and proceed with your praying. Soon, two things will happen. First, that “voice” will no longer even whisper to you. Second, you will find joy, even ecstasy, in praying just for the joy of knowing, experiencing and considering the nature of God. Now, you are on track and “cooking with gas.”
Reader, enjoy the Infinite Goodness of God’s Presence as your very life and being. In the next post, I will explain why this works.
Have You Called Several Practitioners Without Results?
The first time I called a practitioner was for employment – or so I thought. Within a few days, job offers poured in. I called the practitioner again and said, “Please stop. I decided I’m not ready to work.”
The second time I called a practitioner, I was in a financial crisis. In a few days, the supply came in. Then, there was the time when I just left the Emergency Room. The doctor said unless I had an operation tomorrow, things would go badly for me. I called the practitioner and was healed within hours.
Reader, to tell you the truth, a Pink-rumped Rosefinch could pray for me, and the results would be similar. It seems that I’ve always responded to prayer. But, this post is not about me. This post is for those of you who seem to get no help from a practitioner.
Marie Watts (of The Ultimate) told me many times that she never received help from a practitioner. During her time in Christian Science, she was acquainted with some of the best practitioners in the movement. Yet, they were not able to help her.
Then, she said these words, “Allen, when a person has tried many practitioners without receiving help, it’s because they are able to do the work themselves.” I believe this. I sincerely believe that if you have tried one practitioner after another without getting help, you can successfully help yourself. Don’t be afraid! You can do it.
Below are two approaches for “doing your own work.”
LAY IT ON THE LINE
In this approach you lay out all the troubling appearances that seem to be real, and then you ask (God Consciousness) what is really going on?
For example, “It appears that my eyes are red and swollen. It seems as though my vision is blurry and out of focus. These are the appearances, but right where this trouble seems to be happening, what really is going on?” Then, you listen. If no answer comes forth immediately, repeat and listen. Don’t lose heart. Consciousness will reveal what is true.
SKIPPING APPEARANCES ALTOGETHER
If there appears to be trouble in your experience, it’s not what it appears to be. It looks troublesome, and it may even appear to be life-threatening, but it’s not. This troublesome thing is drawing your attention to some Truth of God.
In this approach, you simply ask in prayer, “What is the Truth that I most need to know now?” Or, for those who are rattled by the duality of such a question, you can ask, “What is the Truth that I am knowing right now?”
Reader, I’ve used both approaches. When something seems so horrific that it knocks me off balance, I opt for the first approach. Either way, your focus is not on healing but knowing what IS. I repeat the words of Marie Watts, “Allen, when a person has tried many practitioners without receiving help, it’s because they are able to do the work themselves.”
You can do your own work!
Be Still and Know
What words of greater comfort, sweeter compassion or tenderer love and understanding could ever be whispered forth into expression? “Be still and Know.”
Beloved, let this day be to you a new day, a moment in your experience in which, if you are believing in fear and doubt, loss and separation, suddenly there opens to you a marvelous transparency of vision, when you hear the Voice of your own Soul; when you see the wonder of Life divine.
What woe cold not be hushed, what pain could not be appeased, what lack could not be satisfied by the loving acceptance of these inspiring words – “Be still and know.” Into the daily life of us all comes the need that mental storms, or turmoil, should be silenced; that the waves of fear, or the darkness of despondency be rebuked; that the mighty vision of Insight should be our refuge or our release.
Therefore the joy of certain Victory is yours. Sense is delivered from its nightmare of bondage, and its deliverer is the Truth. If before you rolls the Red Sea, if around you thunders the tempest and the uproar of dashing waves, even then be still and know that You are “The Way,” – You are the uncovered, dry land over which You shall walk to victory, to triumph and glory. Though the waters may look turbulent, angry and threatening, yet beyond, before your vision lies the Promised Land. The Power which separates these waters into a bank on either hand, so that we walk unharmed on solid, dry foundation, is that same Presence in you which bids “Be still and know.”
(by Lillian DeWaters)
Haven’t Experienced Revelation? Here’s Help
Sitting In The Silence, But No Revelations
“Allen, I’ve sat in silence for years, but nothing happens. No revelations, no illumination – nothing. I’ve read your books and have practically memorized Joel Goldsmith’s, but I can’t figure out what in the h**l I’m doing wrong.”
Reader, is this where you seem to be? I’ve been there. It’s frustrating. It’s disheartening. After a long while of “nothing’s happening,” you just go through the motion of silent praying, but you don’t expect anything to come of it. It’s maddening!
Don’t Be Discouraged. There Is Only One Mind.
Because I have been there, I’m offering the following suggestion to newbies in order to bypass this phase, and to the disheartened, to finally find fulfillment.
But first, reader, take a look at the premise that undergirds the suggestion.
God is All. There is only One Mind, and that Mind is the full Revelation of Truth. This is “your” Mind right now.
The mind that has never experienced Revelation – the unillumined mind is no mind at all. It is non-existent.
In short, at this very moment, you are a fully Illumined Identity. You, reader, are Revelation Itself.
Now that you have read, understood and accepted the premise, let’s move on to the suggestion
Try This For Thirty Days
Before you start your silent prayer, acknowledge that you are already fully Illumined. Acknowledge right now that you are the full Revelation of Truth. STOP reaching out for Truth. Instead, settle into “your” fully illumined Mind.
Try this for 30 days, but remember, no reaching out. Settle in.
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