“When
you pray, go
into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret
will reward you.” [Book of Matthew]
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” [Book of Mark]
Prayer is the most wonderful experience man can have. Unlike
the daily murmurings of the vast majority of mankind in all lands who by their
vain repetitions hope to gain the ear of God. Prayer is the ecstasy of a
spiritual wedding taking place in the deep, silent stillness of consciousness.
In its true sense, prayer is God’s marriage ceremony. Just as a maid on her
wedding day relinquishes the name of her family to assume the name of her
husband, in like manner, one who prays must relinquish his present name or
nature and assume the nature of that for which he prays.
The gospels have clearly instructed man as to the
performance of this ceremony in the following manner: “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to
your Father who is in secret. And
your Father who sees in secret will reward you…” [Matthew 6:6]. The
going within is the entering of the bridal chamber. Just as no one but the
bride and groom are permitted to enter so holy a room as the bridal suite on
the night of the marriage ceremony, likewise no one but the one who prays and
that for which he prays are permitted to enter the holy hour of prayer. As the
bride and groom on entering the bridal suite securely shut the door against the
outside world, so too must the one who enters the holy hour of prayer close the
door of the senses and entirely shut out the world round about him. This is
accomplished by taking the attention completely away from all things other than
that with which you are now in love (the thing desired).
The second phase of this spiritual ceremony is defined in
these words: “When you pray, believe that you receive, and you shall receive;”
as you joyfully contemplate being and possessing that which you desire to be
and to have. You have taken this second step and are therefore spiritually
performing the acts of marriage and generation. Your receptive attitude of mind
while praying or contemplating can be likened to a bride or womb for it is that
aspect of mind, which receives the impressions. That which you contemplate
being is the groom, for it is the name or nature you assume and therefore is
that which leaves its impregnation; so one dies to maidenhood or present nature
as one assumes the name and nature of the impregnation.
Lost in contemplation and having assumed the name and nature
of the thing contemplated, your whole being thrills with the joy of being it.
This thrill, which runs through your entire being as you appropriate the consciousness
of your desire, is the proof that you are both married and impregnated. As you
return from this silent meditation, the door is once more opened upon the world
you had left behind. But this time you return as a pregnant bride. You enter
the world a changed being and, although no one but you knows of this wonderful
romance, the world will, in a very short while, see the signs of your
pregnancy, for you will begin to express that which you in your hour of silence
felt yourself to be.
The mother of the world or bride of the Lord is purposely
called Mary, or water, for water loses its identity as it assumes the nature of
that with which it is mixed; likewise, Mary, the receptive attitude of mind,
must lose its identity as it assumes the nature of the thing desired. Only as
one is willing to give up his present limitations and identity can he become
that which he desires to be. Prayer is the formula by which such divorces and
marriages are accomplished. “I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything
they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I among them…” [Matthew 18:19-20]. The two agreeing are you, the
bride, and the thing desired, the groom. As this agreement is accomplished, a
son bearing witness of this union will be born. You begin to express and
possess that which you are conscious of being. Praying, then, is recognizing
yourself to be that which you desire to be rather than begging God for that
which you desire.
Millions of prayers are daily unanswered because man prays
to a God who does not exist.
Consciousness being God, one must seek in consciousness for
the thing desired by assuming the consciousness of the quality desired. Only as
one does this will his prayers be answered. To be conscious of being poor while
praying for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are conscious of
being, namely, poverty. Prayers, to be successful, must be claimed and
appropriated. Assume the positive consciousness of the thing desired.
With your desire defined, quietly go within and shut
the door behind you. Lose yourself in your desire; feel yourself to be one with
it; remain in this fixation until you have absorbed the life and name by
claiming and feeling yourself to be and to have that which you desired. When
you emerge from the hour of prayer, you must do so conscious of being and
possessing that which you heretofore desired.
BUT how does God find the ritual room if the
path is dark for Him to enter and participate the ceremony?
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