Taking the Pathway To Heaven

In the Christian tradition, prayer often takes place on the knees, with hands together. Native Americans, on the other hand outstretched and facing the sky, while Muslims put their heads to the ground. Beyond this - the basic physical position adopted - few are taught in any detail how to pray. we may even be given the wrong information. I was taught, for example, to pray only for others, not myself. It took me years, and a certain amount of guilt, to get beyond this notion and accept that it was okay.

In the process of praying for oneself, we often learn what it is we truly want, which may be very different to what we think  we want, to tell other people we want. So imagine this: people praying for other people without being in a position to know what they really want! Indeed, we may not be getting what we need because someone else is praying for the opposite!

I often hear of accounts of people who are so distressed at the thought of losing a partner, they sit at the deathbed, sometimes for days, willing the partner to live. The partner may themselves be praying to die in peace, without having to worry about the partner taking it so badly. Any such cross purpose of wills can take many forms, including praying for people who don't actually want to get better.

This may seem an unkind thing to say, but doctors and healers of all kinds are very familiar with this syndrome, when some one puts up an often subconscious barrier to healing. in these cases, it may be better to pray that the person is led to understand why they did not really want to get better.

Often tainted with ulterior motives. Iv'e heard people say they want a loved one to live for ever, or at least until they themselves die, and they pray for that, although the loved one may be in great pain and would prefer to die now. I recall on a woman saying to me, that she didn't want her husband to get well enough to come out of hospital until she'd had a chance to decorate the bedroom; and another who wanted her partner to get better extra quickly so he'd come home in time for her birthday. Better perhaps to pray that the person being prayed for gets their own prayers answered.

Many people find it easier to communicate with a messenger of God, an angel perhaps, because the infinite consciousness is so awesome. Fair enough, but just make sure you don't pray to the angel and make an idol of it. Give the message to the messenger as a message.

Many people find it awkard or embarrassing to pray and for them the written prayers may be an answer. The same sacred place in the mind, as used in thought or spoken prayer , can be used when writing down what it is you want to say  - in a relaxed way aware of the divinity that permeates all existence. Some put their written prayer in a special place; or create a prayer box : or burn the prayer and watch the smoke ascend to heaven.

In the Shinto religion, prayers are written on little blocks of fragrant cypress wood which are kept at the temple  for that purpose, and then thrown in the fire. Essential oils can be used in a similar way: fragrancing the paper kept in a box or elsewhere and being an olfactory reminder of the prayer in that place; or put on the paper-prayer before it's burnt. In the ancient times fragrant materials were routinely burnt  at the time of prayer and, indeed, the origin of the word 'perfume' is the latin, per fumum, which means by smoke'. Alternatively, prayers can be written on a banner, as in Tibet, and hung outside to blow in the wind. These writing methods may also appeal to people who express themselves better on paper than they do verbally.

 

Some people speak their prayers out loud, others say them silently in their minds; but why not sing your prayer? There is a whole science to sound, the spiritual use of which includes chanting and the repetition of mantras, as well as song. Sound sets up frequencies in  your whole being, as well as in the that connects you to the divine. Singing is a very open activity - it opens the heart, allows and even demands a flow - which tend to make things spontaneous and honest.  Openness and flow help the prayer reach its destination. Prayer can take place anywhere - on top of a mountain, or at the supermarket checkout.

You see those people on the street? Some of them are walking along praying. people pray on the bus, train or plane, or while walking through a forest. Often, when out and about, the desire to pray comes upon us, and when a prayer is spontaneous it comes from a place deep inside. It is a hear felt, and well received. Feel how the prayer rises from the depths of your being and escapes, riding on your emotion, into that space where it can be heard.

Prayer is quite often presented  as a bargain: if this prayed is answered , I'll pray every day, go to church or temple every week, or help out at the hospital, be a better person, and so forth. Such bargains are seldom kept. They may work for a while but then things drift back to normal. The cosmic consciousness that can see our past and future, knows that.

It's fairly  easy to understand  that bribery in prayer will not work. Suppose someone wants something and says, 'Dear God, if you give me that, I'll give a hundred pounds to the local hospice. ' That's a bribe. If it were that easy people could have all they wanted - including love, health and peace - which is just not the case. This isn't to say you shouldn't give the hospice money- but do it because you feel empathy, compassion and love.

Suffering has played a part in certain branches of the Hindu, Muslim and Christian traditions with people wearing hair shirts and beating themselves with whips. On a less dramatic scale, may people say to themselves, If I really suffer , surely God will answer my prayers. God may not want you to suffer. Try to reach for the light  with faith that things will get better, secure in the knowledge that God will help you if you help yourself.

There's no point in praying for world peace if you constantly row at home or at work. Better to pray for peace in your own environment, and understanding as to why disagreements arise. People who have never prayed, or have not prayed for a long time, may find themselves uncertain as to whether they're supposed to kneel, sit or stand, turn on the lamp or light a candle, put on some music or not.

Regular prayer eventually irons out these questions, and personal routine is found: one you have evolved naturally and feel comfortable with. The prayer can start out extremely simply, and then just be repeated, until you feel you want to add another, different element. As time goes on the whole process will become more refined.

In my practice, iv'e often heard people say they're worried they won't be able to kneel in church because of their arthritic knees. I say, 'Really, I'm sure God won't mind,' but they still worry, so indoctrinated are they in the 'right' way of doing things. it's sad we should think that there is so little understanding in heaven, and God is surely too flexible to worry about a knee that is not. All our prayers will be heard, if they are genuinely said.

As we ask to be forgiven, so too can we forgive: and accept and contribute to universal forgiveness. We must be honest though, to ourselves as well as God. This may be hard to start with, but, from shy and hesitant beginnings, eventually the whole truth will come out and we'll feel better for it. Prayer should not be a duty, but something truly meant. We could read from a standard religious text, or turn to a beautiful poem or passage from a book that strikes a spiritual resonance in us. It's important to be relaxed in prayer, and that is easier when we're genuine and follow our needs.

Prayer has always been a wonderful aspect of human experience, and there seems to be a space reserved in our minds and hearts for it. From this innermost space we travel along a pathway of light, free from mental clutter and genetic memory, past the anguish and the fear, so that place of infinite peace that awaits us like  a shelter in a storm or, on a good day, the most brilliant sun. What gets us there  most surely is love: the most powerful voice or force in the universe. If the message is to get through, it needs love behind it. God is love, and love is what God hears. 

Reference: The Fragrant Heavens : Valerie A Worwood