Session 20 June 2009

[Hildegarda]

[..]
I am Protected and Loved,
I am Healed, I am Whole.
[..]
I have found affirmations/meditations in general to be very effective for reprogramming my thoughts and belief system (including anxiety issues)

Ah, I was wondering what the last passage reminded me of. It's straight from Louise Hay's book, "Heal you body". Or any such like books.

But the "Prayer of the Soul" is NOT an affirmation. When you are truly asking, you are an empty vessel, there is nothing to affirm. The prayer opens you and attunes to receivership. This is why the words

Clear my eyes
That I may See
Clear my ears
That I may hear
Cleanse my heart
That I may know and love

are crucial, but in your rendition they are conspicuously absent :/

 

[Evolutionary1]

Knowledge will protect you Evolutionary1, not 'mantras'. ;) That sounds like self calming.

Just what is it about the prayer that isn't 'enough'? Why must you "make it mine"?

I never implied that the prayer wasn't enough any more than Laura implied that the "Lord's Prayer" wasn't enough when she decided to adapt it. Actually, I had begun to formulate my own version before seeing or realizing that Laura's was posted after reading the June session. I added the other bit that sounds like "self-soothing" to you because I have found that when I remind myself regularly to focus on a positive response to unnecessarily negative thoughts (which I certainly have) I am better equipped to make positive, conscious choices and to believe that it can make a difference--at least in my own life. The very fact that I actively seek knowledge and understanding instead of ignoring what I don't like is the only reason that I feel protected in the first place. And remembering that I am more protected as I learn has helped me to develop a stronger "lack of concern for self" which has allowed me to give more freely to others. And I see nothing wrong with affirming my own power in lieu of embracing the lies at the root of pain and, perhaps STS--i.e, fear of annihilation, of not being enough, of being alone and separated. For these reasons, I don't see this as self-soothing so much as embracing truth.

Interestingly, I have been a huge fan of Laura's work for a long time, and after reading some of the threads sometimes it seemed (to me) that there was often an emphasis on finding defects in the thinking of others and defending against potential "attacks" that seemed to overshadow many sincere ideas and questions that were proposed. I was "afraid" to post anything at the risk of having my feelings hurt or being rejected or misunderstood by a group of strangers that I feel kindred to. This is the type of irrational fear that I was speaking of before, and even now choose to push past in hope of communicating and being understood and in hope of understanding.

Did you actually read the words I'd chosen? Why do you feel that they are not "enough?" Personally, I found Laura's prayer to be inspirational, and there are few gifts greater than that of inspiration. It felt appropriate to adapt the prayer so that the particular flow and words moved me personally. I "made it mine" because it is only through my self and my feelings that I can relate to the world and those particular words made my heart sing. We all have come here from many paths and philosophical backgrounds of our own free will to learn and grow into ourselves, and if this thread leads to the logical conclusion that there is only one "best" way to do this particular exercise, I will happily adjust to what is most effective. But, saying this, I don't think that the very human and healthy desire to feel connected to and express ourselves as individuals should necessarily be seen as a rejection of other people's choices. The very process of adapting the prayer brought on a better understanding of the inspiration behind it. We may seek the same goal to serve others (eachother), but it seems there are as many ways to express this as there are people to do it, and the more, the better. I thought that so long as I maintained the original STO sentiment of Laura's prayer, making it personal would only be a benefit.

I look forward to more insight on this topic and value any opinions. Thanks!

 

[T.C.]

Laura hit the nail on the head when she said I was limiting myself. I thought I'd have to make it shorter and simpler for it to apply to me.

I do have trouble with sincerity and asking without expectation. Maybe I feel guilty about asking for something because my needs and wishes always came second to my parent's.

I think that's what this was about.

Thanks for everyone's help.


P.S.
Reading the prayer had the same effect on me as it did on everyone else. I thought it was beautiful.

 

[Freelancer]

It seems to me that you are looking for a "template" which you can "adjust" to your own personal beliefs and ideas about yourself and the universe. However, those beliefs and ideas may not reflect objective reality -- so of what benefit is that?

Laura has provided a simple prayer that the C's have confirmed is "powerful". If the words of that prayer do not currently "resonate" for you, perhaps this is an opportunity to really think about and investigate what those words MEAN, objectively speaking, and how that objective meaning relates to you and your current beliefs and ideas. Perhaps it is an opportunity to examine those beliefs and ideas more objectively.

This might be another useful exercise: Look at each word and phrase of Laura's prayer and examine your emotional reaction to it. Try to honestly state why you feel the need to alter those words and phrases to "suit you" better. Try to articulate what it is about her prayer that makes it "not right" for you. I think you will discover some very interesting things about yourself.

As a side note, I think you will better understand the feedback you have received in this thread after you have read the Wave series, where Laura addresses a lot of the "new agey" ideas that come through in your "revised prayer".
:)

A sound suggestion. I will work on that.

 

[Evolutionary1]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I will consider all of your opinions and go from there. Yes, I have read and utilized Louise L. Hays' affirmations for a while and found them to be effective--though I've adapted those, too. And for the record, in my mind I associate the words "love and light" with expansion of consciousness ("reconnecting" beyond my "self" to creation) and knowledge. I meant to focus the prayer on growing my own awareness of and relationship to the Universe instead of asking for things that would require others to be different, By affirming and using the term "allowing," I felt this left me more open and less demanding! I certainly don't want to be a narcissist, though I do find it a lot of work to find the delicate balance between honoring myself and my potential while also "submitting" to the flow of the world beyond my realm of control. When I affirmed that I "allow all I need and desire" I did so thinking that if it is possible to access knowledge from within, I should affirm that I can trust myself and the Universe to bring me what It "knows" I need and desire--(my daily bread) so long as my motivation is to serve others as myself. And yes, just as anyone who prays does so under the assuption that they are being "heard."I do this under the understanding and belief that all is One, and that in the Universe we live in, free will and balance are elemental--as I believe science and the Cassies' have affirmed to an extent. Reminding myself that I am one with others helps me to recognize the value of serving others as myself, but of course, I can not serve others much until I find my own rhythm and understanding. I certainly do not think I am "done" learning or I wouldn't be here--in the forum or on Earth! It may sound that way because affirmations are often stated as if they are already true. I will consider the implications of this and also try to understand what it really is to "pray." I am doing my best! Thanks.

 

[combsbt]

Hi Evolutionary1,

I would suggest rereading anarts post as it seems you have missed the points made there. "Allowing" and "Submitting" may be quite dangerous and put you in a vulnerable position where you are open to being deceived by something presenting itself as "love and light". Also what you "need" and what you "desire" may be two very different things. And as we have seen over and over again, what one "desires" is often not desirable. That is the nature of our machine. It would be good to keep in mind that, as of now, we are all STS.

 

[combsbt]

Ark,

Thank you for the reply. I have taken a course that had some preliminary quantum mechanics in it but wont be taking a full course in the subject for another semester or two. For the time being, I have found that my school's library has a couple copies of John von Neumann's - Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Other than your posted link, would this be a good place to start?

 

[Laura]

Dear Evolutionary!, Freelancer, Woodman, and all...

I want to thank Buddy for succinctly stating exactly what that prayer is about:

Every suggestion for 'improvement' that I have read so far seems to be incorporated into the wording of the prayer as is. You just have to keep contemplating until you see the meaning in the deeper structure.

And Pepperfritz for pointing out that it was Objective.

All of that is intentional.

As I said, I started with the Lord's Prayer and basically "translated" it into total cosmic terms, including every single element that is in the Lord's Prayer. If you read it carefully and contemplate the meaning behind every phrase, you will see that.

Also, I am convinced that this prayer was not composed/modified without assistance from the Cs. As I have many times explained, very often when I have a burning question inside and I ponder it for awhile, the answers come to me. I don't always have to use the board for that! (Though for most things I prefer it because it is less prone to corruption - even if I think that we have a pretty robust "corruption meter" going on anyway.)

So, over time, I asked the Universe to help me "translate" the Lord's Prayer into something that would be Universal in every respect, and you have the result.

Please, read it line by line and think about it from every angle, every aspect. Try to think about some part of your existence that it does NOT cover. I don't think you will find any.

Finally, one thing that was uppermost in my mind was this: "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else will be added unto you."

If you understand the "kingdom of heaven" as knowledge/awareness/being then you will see that the prayer deals with exactly that. I am also reminded of a story in 1 Kings 3:5 where God appears to Solomon and says: “Ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” Solomon thought about this and finally asked God to give him an "understanding heart." In other words, he asked for wisdom/knowledge, the ability to see and hear truth so that he could be a good king.

So God gave Solomon an understanding heart AND all the things he did not ask for… riches, power and honor and so on.

When we have true knowledge and awareness, when we have BEing, we are allowing the Universe to express itself through us in its mode of knowledge, awareness and BEing. If you think about this for a moment, knowledge and awareness and BEing include, by default, being in synch with life and creativity and creation itself.

If you have knowledge and awareness and BEing, no matter where you are or what is happening, you are in the right place at the right time; you will see what you need to see, hear what you need to hear, meet who you need to meet, and have what you need to have. All of that is included in "seek ye first the kingdom of heaven."

Seeking knowledge of all creation is learning to express the Universe in it's aspect of knowledge and when you do that, you are expressing unlimited potential.

This is what you receive when you ask for an "understanding heart."

With an understanding heart we also experience compassion and love. We also experience gratitude and inspiration and most important of all, trust in the Universe to know what it is doing and to submit ourselves to our true, higher nature - that which can be born in us if we die to the personal wants, needs, assumptions, expectations, and so on.

So, again, go over that prayer and explain to me ONE thing that you would lack in your life if all that prayer asks was granted to you.

"What profits a man if he gain the entire world and lose his soul?"

It is, after all, the Prayer of the Soul.

 

[Courageous Inmate Sort]

I would like to share some thoughts on the Prayer of the Soul and the responses to it.

As I was reading the thread and came to Laura's post and I started reading the prayer, the following though immediately came to my head: “dont bother with this, this is silly, you can make your own prayer later” (with the obvious connotation that my prayer would be better). Then I followed on reading the thread without ever finishing the whole prayer, although a nagging feeling kept telling me to read and pay attention to Laura's Prayer.

As you may already suspect, the posts of T.C., Freelance and Evolutionary, as well as the answers to them resounded greatly within me. Most of all, the following remarks struck me:

“It seems to me that you are looking for a "template" which you can "adjust" to your own personal beliefs and ideas about yourself and the universe. However, those beliefs and ideas may not reflect objective reality -- so of what benefit is that?” – Pepperfritz

“Already you are putting limitations on the Universe as well as yourself. If you cannot ask without assumptions or anticipation - I mean, just ASK - if your lies are THAT deep, then NO prayer and no exercise and no breathing and no meditation will help you.” – Laura

These ideas rapidly connected with many events of my life. As a whole, I suddenly realized that finding “templates” which I can adjust to “my way of doing things” is a very consistent pattern in my life. I have a feeling that things must be made MINE in order to be of value. That I cannot accept things as they are, because there is always something wrong with them, so I must make them better by adjusting them to be in accordance with what I believe is correct.

This obviously relates to the issue of ASKING, because how can I ask for something if, from the beginning, I presuppose there will be something wrong with the answer.

Just wanted to share these thoughts of being frightened by my own ignorance and being so easily misled by the predator's mind.

 

[Courageous Inmate Sort]

Regarding the contents of the Prayer of The Soul itself, I would like to state that the following passage, although almightily beautiful, actually brings a warm and somewhat sad feeling to me.

Cleanse my heart
That I may know and love

I think it is because I feel my heart is blocked, and love is something very very far away, of which I cannot even have a glimpse.

 

[Jacques]

With an understanding heart we also experience compassion and love. We also experience gratitude and inspiration and most important of all, trust in the Universe to know what it is doing and to submit ourselves to our true, higher nature - that which can be born in us if we die to the personal wants, needs, assumptions, expectations, and so on.

So, again, go over that prayer and explain to me ONE thing that you would lack in your life if all that prayer asks was granted to you.

"What profits a man if he gain the entire world and lose his soul?"

It is, after all, the Prayer of the Soul.

Thank you very much Laura.

It is a wonderful prayer and when i read it, i have the feeling that every parcel of my Being is singing.

 

[Mountain Crown]

Well said...

* By the way, nice to see you again, Buddy

Same here, Buddy!

 

[Buddy]

These ideas rapidly connected with many events of my life. As a whole, I suddenly realized that...

Thank you for this post, Courageous Inmate Sort. You've described the dynamics involved in a contemplative state that, instead of doing assembly-line deduction to find meanings, allowed you to wait and let the universe coalesce the elements into an inspiration!

 

[Evolutionary1]

Laura, Thank you for elaborating. And I cannot and will not point out anything wrong or missing in your prayer because I never felt, nor feel, that your version is lacking in anyway; that is why I chose it as the template. :) I think I felt the need to adapt my version especially because I did not feel comfortable with or fully understand the more "biblical" references to heaven and so forth because I associate it with my own issues with Christianity as it is generally practiced. Not to mention, I too, have a tendency to "make things my own" by collecting and combining portions of various belief systems in response to the often conflicting religious and philosophical interpretations of how things are. I suppose it is a belief that if I do not "reinterpret" something into my own language, I have not done the work necessary to "get it." I still think this is a useful approach to integrating knowledge, but I see how this belief has often led me to do things the hard, long way--re-doing what's already done well--when it was not necessary and I certainly want to conserve my energy! Though I do my best to eliminate wishful thinking, having others shed light on one of my oldest patterns and beliefs has given me a lot to think about (as usual) and for that I am very grateful. Thank you for taking the time, all of you, to respond.

 

[Johnno]

It seems the chances are pretty good that when we remove something from its universe/reality context and drag into our thinking space, context suffers....

Well said, Buddy. Seems to me that Laura has given us an OBJECTIVE prayer that we need to seriously contemplate before we reject it in favour of a SUBJECTIVE "version"....

Yes, I was going to comment on this being objective as well and see it has already been done when reading later posts.