THE PERSONAL REALITY OF PRAYER AND BELIEF
Michael M. Zanoni
PREFACE
People have differing degrees of
importance to one another at various times.
Strangers’ lives intersect, and then move off in new directions. These momentary contacts often allow us to
tell about experiences or exchange information; we then use that information
for personal development. The
discussion presented in this paper is prepared for those whose life-path, for
whatever reason, has intersected with mine.
This monograph concerns some observations and discussion about prayer
and methods of praying. Although you may have different
beliefs, these things are true in my experience. I thought this material out a bit, and
invested some time in writing, so I ask that you delay judgment until you read
the whole thing. I want to share these
thoughts for what is essentially a selfish reason, as will become clear later.
It is a commonly accepted belief that anyone will
engage in some type of prayer when faced with a sufficiently great crisis. I believe prayer is a skill that can
be learned, developed, and practiced so as to lead towards greater mental and
spiritual abilities. The word prayer is
used to mean a mental process that stimulates various aspects of the human
mind. This stimulation can cause
information to flow into the conscious awareness. Prayer can also stimulate a response
external to human thought. In addition,
prayer is a means of request or supplication on the behalf of, or for the
benefit of, other fellow beings. This holds true independent of spiritual
beliefs, or lack thereof. Prayer may
even be directed, as my Unitarian friends joke, “To Whom It May Concern.”
MY EXPERIENCE
I once worked as a police officer in a
large metropolitan city. I noted that
my mere presence was often sufficient stimulus to incite someone to violence. My basic observation was that my reaction to
another person’s behavior was the most common factor in precipitating
violence. I was not attacked merely
because I existed, but violence resulted because of something that I or another
police officer did. This had certain
negative aspects, but fortunately I learned both how to defend myself
physically and how to not create a situation in which violence could
occur. (As opposed to creating a
situation in which violence would not occur.)
I learned that much turmoil would be avoided if I altered my reaction to
my emotional interpretation of events. I
will repeat that idea in a different way:
We cannot readily change our emotions, but we can change our reactions
to our own emotions.
One
method that I used to change the personal reaction to my emotions was to force
myself to pay attention to one event at a time. I worked to not become overly concerned with
the feelings surrounding the totality of the situation. By doing this, situations could be
evaluated logically, and I could make decisions based on something other than
pure emotion. The emotions were always
there, but it was as if I was watching them rather than living them. This
procedure became very effective in situations where I had no great personal
involvement. In the face of personal
tragedy and crisis, however, something else was needed.
My personal concept of God is that of an all-loving and patient
parent. I have never been able to
conceive of a god who is a parent that would provide an easy and carefree
life. If there were no challenges in
life, no growth would occur. Primarily
for this reason, I do not believe that prayer will be answered spiritually
unless and until I first exhaust all of my mortal and mental resources for
handling a situation. With these beliefs
in mind, and recalling past successful experiences at controlling
situations through an awareness of my
own psychology, I reasoned that much of
my personal anxiety in crisis and tragedy situations came from a
reaction to interpersonal events. By
controlling my behavior so that I would not effect other persons in a negative
fashion, I could
avoid starting the vicious cycles of anger, anxiety, and doubt between
individuals. This did little, however,
for developing an ability to control my inward personal anxiety. I knew, based on my success with a logical
approach to emotions, that the key might be in the area of accepting the
reality of each situation.
Even
though this seemed like a good idea, I was at a loss as to how to accomplish
anything further. My decision was to
not continue to ruminate on the problem, but to pray for guidance so that I
could develop the information that would allow me to solve the problem. (As will be discussed later, prayer has
both a spiritual and an associated internal psychological component. I have no opinion as to whether one or both
were working in the development of my solution.) The answer to my question came when I found that if I viewed a situation from the
standpoint of an observer rather than as a participant, my anxiety was
lowered. Obviously, this is a
modification of the process of watching emotions rather than experiencing
them. I am not, however, espousing
the philosophy of the Stoic cults; rather,
I am suggesting something of greater import than the mere
acceptance of events without comment.
After working on these practices of analyzing one event at a time, watching
emotions rather than
experiencing them, and viewing situations as an observer of my
participation, I suddenly was able to
see the truth of the statement that the physical world is a great school. Lessons are presented to each of us in
various hidden ways. It is up to each
of us to observe our participation in the events of our personal life, and to
draw meaning and wisdom from these observations.
Are there any new ideas contained in the preceding paragraphs? No, of course not; everything I experienced
was something I already knew. The difference
was that the ideas changed from mere words to something that was now an
intimate part of my experience. Like
many lessons learned in life, the full impact of this cannot be transmitted in
anything less than an experiential component.
In other words, I can tell you about it, but you may not really get it.
My mental machinations were, for the most part, inner-directed and
selfish. I worked out an answer to a
problem, and this answer or methodology allowed me to live more comfortably and
interact more effectively. There are
other situations and personalities, however, where it is inappropriate or
impossible to discuss matters such as this without meeting terrific mental
resistance. The way around this
resistance, which is also a way into the more receptive mind, is to try to
induce a calming, passive influence into one’s total life situation. The techniques for doing this incorporate
numerous factors of personal knowledge, role-playing, self-hypnosis, divine
supplication, and faith. I will continue,
however, to designate this method by its more common name: prayer.
A digression is
necessary here for a better grasp of what follows. There are certain assumptions that one must
make before any complete discussion of spiritual development occurs:
1) It
is impossible for one person to prove the existence of God to another person;
2) It
is impossible for one person to prove that another person does not know that
God exists;
3) If
there is a god who is a single Father-Creator, then we are all members of a
Universal Family;
4) Man
must believe in God by faith alone until sufficient evidence presents itself to
prove the actuality of God.
5) If
God is a Father-Creator, and exists perfectly in Eternity, then we are being
led ever Godward towards perfection.
One theory of existence is that we are simultaneously perfect and
imperfect. We are perfect in that from
the Creator’s timeless viewpoint we already have attained perfection; imperfect
in that we are still developing as creatures who have not yet become beings on
an eternal level.
If one can accept any part of the foregoing, it
might also be possible to accept that our mind (not to be confused with the
electrochemical brain) is indwelt by a fragment of the Creator, placed there to
function as a force leading us through Eternity, nudging us towards some
manifestation of perfection.
Unfortunately,
emotions can function to control our actions in ways that either hinder or help
our development. By learning to control
the reactions to our emotions, we then can be in a better position to evolve
personally and spiritually. I am not
saying we should strive to be totally free of emotional involvement
with Life; in fact, life without emotions would
be very barren. Seasoning makes food interesting, but too
much salt is overwhelming.
My
definitions and viewpoints about prayer differ from the usual religious
meaning. I believe that a
divine-directed request first functions on a purely mental level, with much the
same dynamics as auto-suggestion or self-hypnosis. It is my belief that prayer is not answered
on a spiritual level unless the individual doing the praying has exhausted all
the available means possessed at that time in solving the problems at
hand. We must learn to be resourceful
in confronting life. The human brain
can store and examine large amounts of information; much of this data is stored
on levels not readily available to the conscious mind. Often, certain mental processes have to
occur before this data can be organized into a coherent plan for life
action. Solutions that are not readily
apparent often spring forth when least expected. I am in no way denying the spiritual
validity of divine supplication; I am
merely differentiating
between a mental process functioning on a mental level
and a mental process that causes
spiritual results. The two processes
must be identified so that effective prayer on a spiritual level can be better
recognized. In no way is the
designation of one process as mental and the other as spiritual meant to take
value away from either. Both are
interrelated for effective growth, and both have tremendous value.
TECHNIQUE
Although we are speaking here
generally about solutions, another result that cannot be overlooked is the
curative effect of that mental process known as Faith. This is not necessarily the faith that we
speak of in relationship to a god, but is the type of faith or confidence that
occurs regarding a particular medicine, procedure, belief, or person. The placebo effect is well known
in medicine: a person’s
physical condition will improve
merely because they take a harmless substance (such
as milk sugar) but are told that it is an effective new drug.
Quite obviously, something happens within the mind that causes a physical
result. I am suggesting that there are
limitless resources possible through the proper use of the mind, and that
access to these resources can be increased through use of the technique of
prayer.
In speaking of the technique of prayer, I am referring to direct
requests and supplications made to a concept we give the name of Spirit or
Divinity. There are, however, dual
components of prayer being answered through both mental processes and spiritual
revelation. I need to emphasize that I
am speaking about both activation of a mental function and resource based on
conscious thought and an external process of divine assistance as a result of
these mental activities. Again I
emphasize that neither form of growth or assistance is better than the
other. Since information, strength, and
the potential for change can be
obtained in many ways, an individual has
the opportunity to be continuously able to derive mental and/or
spiritual benefit in the most direct way
important for existence and growth at the time.
Let us first consider
self-directed prayer. By this I mean a
request for personal assistance.
Properly formulated prayer will request assistance in areas of growth
and knowledge, and will not be concerned with the alteration of physical
reality beyond the control of individuals.
In other words, prayer is for a mental or spiritual change, and not for
a social result. It is true, however,
that a slight mental change will often result in major alterations of personal
reality. I hope you will perceive that
prayer aimed at influencing an event - such as praying for a good grade on a
test or praying for wealth - is not effective.
What is highly effective, however, is to pray for
an increased ability to study that would lead to passing the test, or to pray
for a means of earning the money necessary for the achievement of some project.
If we
are spirit-led beings, propelled
and pulled ever Godward by a Perfected fragment of the Father indwelling
us, we must hold the thought that God’s will is going to
get us to a better situation much faster than our own will. Far too many people pray with the intent
that it is their will that God’s will be done if it is their will also, and not
otherwise. The real names for such
mental processes are fear, selfishness, and lack of faith.
Inner
directed prayer, as mentioned, can function on both mental and spiritual
levels. In fact, it is probably
necessary that the prayer function mentally before it can achieve the desired
spiritual effect. The spiritual
level of
functioning occurs when a person has exhausted the mental resources available then for the solution of
the problem, and on the mental level when the person still has resources
available (not necessarily consciously) that can be of assistance. This also leads to the supposition that both
mental and spirit-led thought processes can cooperate to form new ideas for
understanding or action that are neither wholly the result of mental nor
spiritual guidance alone.
The
method of inner-directed prayer can take almost any form that a person
desires. A loving Father-Creator God
would not require us to bow our heads in humility or stoop to bent knee before
He will listen. These are the ideas of
Man viewing God as another mortal being, and in many cases such ideas are
remnants of the times when church leaders and political rulers were the same.
Even the language format of prayer is relatively unimportant. Prayers may be silent, spoken, sung or
written. Some individuals have
perfected the technique of praying through concepts rather than words. The format or manner of the prayer is not as
important is its intent. Both the spirit-fragment and the human mind are quite
capable of understanding the reason, intent, and sincerity of prayer. Just as one cannot hide from God, it is
impossible to hide from your own Mind.
No matter what
communication format you choose, the intent should be for guidance. By praying for the increased ability to know
or learn how to better handle the human situation, areas of both the
subconscious and the super-conscious are stimulated. The
guidance requested should be in the context of a spiritual request, with
the sincere intent that the resulting knowledge be used to further God’s Will
or to gain a clear vision of
your proper path. In
this way, subconscious data that is not necessarily spirit-provided can
be organized by the spirit-fragment-possessing-super
conscious mind into a formulation that will be of Divinely guided intent.
To summarize up to
this point: By making a conscious mental
request for assistance, the subconscious mind is mobilized into organizing memories and knowledge that, in conjunction
with the spirit-led super-conscious, can lead to an awareness of particular
courses of action. If the ability to
provide information is totally within the subconscious and super-conscious,
then the Indwelling Fragment might only function to coordinate this data.
If the ability to
handle the circumstance is not present at the time of the supplication or
request, then the Indwelling Fragment gives data to the conscious mind through
the superconscious that will allow the individual to handle the situation in a
way that is most effective and proper for them at that time. Yet, the individual may reject any or all
the leadings of the Indwelling Fragment; most of us quite often do.
The disparity between
the electro-chemical brain and the world of spirit is separated by multiple
layers of reality and awareness. The
road to overcoming this separation and increasing spirit led communion is
through prayer. By praying for the
ability to gain increased spiritual awareness, and wholeheartedly desiring to
achieve greater conscious communications with the Indwelling Fragment, the same
mechanisms as in other prayers will occur, with the subconscious and conscious
minds orienting themselves to a greater attunement with the voice of the
super-conscious. Simply stated, you can
pray to pray better. Prayer is never a
wasted mental effort; it functions on beneficial personal mental and spiritual
levels.
What we have not
considered is prayer on a social level: prayer directed to assist others. As
discussed, individual-oriented
or personal prayer
is effectively aimed at somehow providing information that will
allow one to pursue a life that functions towards the fulfillment of God’s
Will, rather than the individual’s will.
It is possible to
conclude that the proper manner
of praying for
other people is also to ask that they be given the
guidance to live according to God’s Will.
What does “Doing
God’s Will” actually mean? While I
would not presume to know God’s Will, I do know that the Indwelling Fragment
will eventually lead me to live according to God’s Will. If I can attune my mind to this voice
inside, I have faith that all will be as it should.
Following God’s Will
seems to mean living through a reasoned choice of actions. We all can make unlimited choices about our
behavior and can decide to follow whatever path our lives take without concern
for others. We can also choose to devote
our mortal career to assisting our fellow beings to find that which was never
lost.
There is possibly something of great importance in this factor of
choosing. Our minds have the ability to
choose among numberless courses of action.
The major choice is to follow or not follow God’s Will. It would seem reasonable to conclude that
something remarkable occurs when the personality chooses to follow the lead of
the Indwelling Fragment.
Obviously, our mortal
mind is just that: mortal and not spiritual.
The Indwelling Fragment is pure God, not mortal in any sense that we can
understand. To create something of
survival value - and by this I mean the survival of personality neither mortal
nor spirit. If something is mortal, it
will not transcend to the spiritual. If
something is purely spirit, it cannot be formed by the mortal body. The something in between we can call the
soul, which is the spiritized portion of the mind resulting from making choices
to follow the leading of the Indwelling Fragment. Through prayer, through decisive and sincere
choice, we can develop the ability to gain awareness of Universe actualities
that will make certain our eternal life.
Through prayer we can be guided in everyday decisions towards a less
emotion controlled existence into a more love-based reality.
SUMMATION
What I have attempted here is to
discuss levels of awareness and mental control that can be of progressive
benefit. First, there was the
psychological factor of not being “at cause” to another person’s negative
behavior. This is accomplished by
avoiding an overly emotional interpretation of events. Next, the idea was presented that we cannot
change our emotions, but we can change our reactions to our emotions, which may
result in altered behavior. Over time, this may even result in a change in our
emotional response because events have a changed meaning. The techniques of personal control were not
explored to any depth. Exploration on
an inner-personal basis of the spiritual belief
system led to an interpretation of the world and my life experience as
first alluded to previously where I chose to see the observations of my
participation in life as being more important than any particular events.
OTHER FACTORS
An unexplored factor in this
discussion is the development of the ability to induce a calming effect into
situations and persons through mental effort.
There are three factors I see as important in developing this ability:
Role-playing, psychological awareness, and Spirit-Love awareness.
Role playing is just
that: acting out a particular role or script
in a social or inter-personal context.
If someone is angry, and one reacts with anger, nothing is
accomplished. But if proper personal
actions are maintained, the anger can be controlled or dissipated. Similarly, certain behavior is expected from
individuals in certain situations.
Inappropriate social responses can cause anxiety to develop. Role-playing is also somewhat related to the
situation mentioned where I found that my actions regarding someone else’s
actions resulted in negative reactions towards me, which forced an even greater
negative event to occur. When I learned
that my proper role was more often that of an independent arbitrator rather
than as an individual personally involved in the situation, events changed for
the better. A psychological awareness of
the mechanics of human interaction and mind-processes can be used to manipulate
both the self and situations for a positive benefit. The entire field of psychology provides
methods for dealing with many types of inter-personal situations that are quite
obviously beyond the scope of this paper.
The prime factor for
consideration at this time relating to the ability to introduce tranquility
into a situation is directly concerned with awareness of the Indwelling
Fragment. Once an individual becomes
cognizant of the fragment in their own mind, the next step is an awareness of
the universal presence of this fragment in other human minds. This awareness can lead to the development
of feelings of the universal Brotherhood of humans, which are most properly
manifested by feelings of love for all other beings. Not necessarily love in the
emotional-biological sense, but a type of love relating to the awareness of the
commonality of source, to the overall unity of the Universe. If we are all possessed of a fragment from
the same Father, then we are all eventually heading towards one Eternal
destiny, unrevealed and incomprehensible to our mortal minds. But awareness of, and a faith in, this
eventual destiny should make one cognizant of the need for cooperation by all
beings towards fulfilling God’s will in our mortal struggle. Our overall intent should be to live the
Divine Life, meaning a life led to function in harmony with the Father’s Will. The difficulty of doing all of this is
astounding given the troubled planet on which we live and the resistance of our
mind. Within each of us, however, is
the ability to achieve great wisdom and provide comfort and guidance to our
fellow beings in this adventure. This
all sounds very nice and philosophical, but of course overlooks the fact that
most individuals do not wish (or care) to make the effort at leading the Divine
Life.
I am not suggesting
that one has to love all individuals for what they do - since we all do many
unloving things - but I am pointing out that all beings can be loved for what
they can be. They can be loved for the
potential inherent in the Indwelling Fragment. A continuous, conscious,
intensely personal awareness of the latent potentialities in other individuals,
coupled with feelings of brotherly love brought about by the sure knowledge
that we are all in reality partners in the life-struggle, somehow seems to
mobilize an internal calming effect on the believer’s personality. Whether it can be because of other
introduced factors or unconscious role-playing
or psycho-manipulative skills,
this awareness and love can direct itself outward onto persons
and situations, creating a subtle but growing tranquility.
When I pray for other
persons, I ask that they be given the guidance to follow their indwelling
Fragment, so that God’s Will may be done in their life. When
I pray for myself,
I ask that I be given the guidance to utilize all of my resources to the fullest,
and only when I have no present resources to proceed, do I ask for
divine intervention that will give me the skills to grow more fully. All of this is done in the context of doing
God’s Will, knowing that I have within me the perfection of all Eternity,
struggling to communicate with my mortal mind for the development of an
everlasting Soul.
EXAMPLES
As
promised, I will illustrate various kinds of prayer, formulated to
complement the points previously mentioned.
The following illustrate general formats for inner-directed prayers. As mentioned, the intent is to mobilize
both the mental and the spiritual.
(a) “My Father, giver of the
Indwelling Spirit, grant me the ability to better contend with the problems of my everyday
existence. Help integrate my being so that
I may more gracefully go forth upon the Earth as your representative creature. Please allow me to develop the ability to
follow your guidance, so that we may one day exist in loving harmony. Please allow me to learn the ways of
dissipating my anger so that my fellow beings do not suffer from my emotional
outbursts.”
(b) “Father-God, knowing that I am greatly troubled by my inability to not feel doubt
about the motives of my fellows, show me the way to greater trust and
understanding. Give me the knowledge
to find peace and to see Your Way in this troubled world.”
(c) “Indwelling
Spirit, gift of my Father, having the sure knowledge of my every intent, guide
me to a greater understanding and patience with my fellow man. Give me the knowledge to conduct my life in
accord with your guidance and the Father’s will.”
(d) “My
Father, if it is your will for me to succeed with the task at hand, please
give me
the knowledge and guidance necessary.
Give me the understanding to know the difference between my desire and
your Will, for it is my sincere wish to fulfill your Eternal plan.”
(e) “My
Loving Father, knowing that I am experiencing
great pain and discomfort as a result of this physical illness, give me
the ability to withstand this suffering with great fortitude.
Please grant my body the ability to withstand every painful assault to
the maximum of its ability.”
(f) “Beloved
Father, Creator of the Universe, creator of my flesh, hear my plea for
increased ability to follow the guidance of your indwelling Spirit. Guide me in living the Life obtained by
following your Will. Make me an
instrument of reality as I joyfully submit my mortal experience to the
fulfillment of Truth.”
Praying might also take the form of thinking
or visualizing concepts. Consider the
following:
(g) (Father) (Universe)
(Earth as small part of Universe)
(Individual on Earth)
(Gift from Father)
(Eternity) (Love) (Brotherhood)
(Guidance) (Statement of problem
at hand in form of a concept)
(Faith in God-Father as a child’s faith in a parent) (Knowledge at hand) (Knowledge to be gained)
(Love) (Gratitude)
Praying may also take
place through singing, or in poetry.
Most hymns are prayer-poems.
Music can be formulated to express individual concepts organized into a
prayer-composition.
Outer or
other-directed prayers can take the same format as personal prayer. The
most important factor in prayers for others, which has not been mentioned, is that
the person being prayed
for should be made aware of the fact that he is being prayed for in order to receive the greatest
effect. The sure knowledge that
another being cares enough to pray for one, mobilizes strong social,
psychological, and spiritual meanings. The efficacy of an individual praying
for increased spirit-guidance of another, while that person is praying for
himself, has the obvious factor of increased focus. Both individuals praying
for spirit-guidance in doing the Father’s will increases the mortal socialization
and the spiritual concept of Universal Brotherhood founded on Love. It is inconceivable that one person could
sincerely pray for another and not love them in a Universal sense.
CONCLUSION
The final comment to be made regards other
individuals. If we are all
Spirit-indwelt and Spirit-led creatures, it is then to our benefit to make all
human contact a form of divine worship.
By being aware that the other person to whom we speak is indwelt by a
personal fragment of the same God, the same Father, whose fragment indwells us, one can truly
speak from the heart with Love and affection, realizing that we are all truly
united in spirit, and that we live in a friendly Universe.
This article has come full
circle. I admit to selfish
motives: Your increased spiritual
development will, somehow, cause an increase in mine. Because you know that I regard you as a
member of the Universal family of beings, you know that at least one other
being loves you, and that you are not alone on this Earth.
And,
perhaps, having the knowledge of my feelings, you will decide to pray, and that
you might pray for me.
1978