In the minds of many, prayer is often a request. The supplicant desires good health, a favorable outcome, success, financial security, peace on earth, or another in a litany of human desires. Some sublime, like equality and prosperity for all. Some not so elevated, like bad fortune for an enemy.
Different people make contradicting requests, like each asking that their team win the contest as the game is in progress. In this context, if one person’s prayers are granted, then another’s must be denied. Miracles of healing from advanced disease are sought. This would require rescinding the laws of nature, which does not happen. Another asks for bad people to be appropriately punished. Such a concession assumes that the question of “good vs. bad” has been resolved. And on and on.
There is probably some statistic that reveals the rate at which a prayer results in the specifically desired outcome. The number is about the same as a chance occurrence. We make a wish before blowing out our birthday candles. We ask Santa Claus or the tooth fairy to realize hopes and dreams. We pray.
The act of praying is about the person performing it.
Prayer creates energy in the supplicant. It opens the possibilities that one may follow to attain one’s goals. It motivates and energizes. It spotlights and pinpoints the objective. The individual petitioner becomes centered. The act of praying builds intent. Praying promotes action. Having accomplished the mental discipline induced by prayer, moving forward flows naturally. A foundational psychological support inspires working and succeeding. Prayer, therefore, fortifies strength, purpose, and confidence. A person grows to answer his or her own prayer, better suited to bringing the desired outcome to fruition.
Praying opens the mind. By quieting the ongoing mental activity, the brain becomes more receptive. Clarity arises. Completing the appeal allows the introduction of insights, ideas, and solutions. A path is opened.
The greatest utility of praying is achieved by focusing without distraction. Prayer as meditation relieves tension and relaxes the body. Cares and worries are suspended. Negativity is denied. Fear, anger, and hatred can be minimized. Hope engendered. Peace and harmony spring alive.
Meditation is the act of focusing. The more mindful and intentional, the greater. One learns to go beyond the limitations of the material world. Seeking transcendence connects to the infinite.
From being engrossed in the physical life, prayer opens a portal to activate and engage with the spiritual. The earthly and the heavenly powers intersect to enhance each other. Worldly life becomes expansive. Spiritual existence gains context and grounding. Both benefit.
There are many approaches and techniques for meditating. They share the effort of focusing the mind and preventing extraneous thought intrusions. A single sound or word may be adequate. Prayer is positioned to serve this need.
Praying meditatively establishes a link to God, the only 100% spiritual entity. The mood must be as pure as possible. Nothing of the material plane should intrude. The bridge to the Deity complements and augments our earthly reality. Creation is repaired. Material existence acquires a spiritual quality that tends toward the unlimited. Life is transcendent.
The result is what flows from blending the earthly and heavenly. Cause-and-effect relationships are no longer linear or predictable. The limitations of emotion, desire, and other worldly boundaries are surpassed. A new world combining the spiritual with the physical is born and evolves.
Meditation is a feat of pure, unblemished concentration. This is what prayer should be. There are no tangential meanings or thoughts introduced during this activity. Any embellishment, regardless whether intentional or not, tilts the balance of the deed. The result is loss of some of the unified power being sought. Obstacles are created that block the connection to the spiritual.
Why is purity of thought so hard to attain in typical praying sessions? Music provides a good contrast. When one listens to music, the vibrations are the entirety of the experience. Although knowledge of the author contributes to intellectual appreciation, the beauty of the aggregate art is sidelined somewhat.
Focusing on a single sound, like a musical chord, is a language without interpretation. Prayer uses language. If you speak English, praying in English immediately stimulates understanding of the words. If you speak English and pray in Latin, Hebrew, Farsi or any other dialect that you comprehend, you will subconsciously translate. Interpretation is straying. These circumstances diminish the focused nature of meditation. It is a disadvantage to the person. Praying in a language that does not introduce a tendency to understand the prayer itself is mindful concentration.
How does one focus exclusively on the prayer? By seeing the words and making them the only thing in your consciousness. Be aware of nothing except the visual input. Translation is a severe impairment and Sisyphean impulse to suppress. Any understanding or interpretation of the prayer adds subjectivity to the process. This is by nature limiting and moves to reject the purity of attaching to the infinite. imagine trying to read in your native language without comprehension. Virtually impossible.
Being able to read Hebrew or Latin but not familiar with the meanings of the words allows you to single-mindedly focus on the image as it flows past your vision. Your mind is drawn in as it might be when you are entranced by an incredibly enthralling and captivating work of art. The words themselves become the meditative nucleus of your full attention as you endeavor to embrace the spiritual plane.
The illustration of music needs to be restated. It is like the ways we appreciate a work of art. One can see a painting and become absorbed by it. There is no thought but the connection. The spirit of the masterpiece silences distraction. Only the object and the observer exist. This is meditative and connects to the infinite.
Alternatively, a person can be knowledgeable about art in general, the particular piece specifically, and be learned in the life and thoughts of the artist. This gives much more to consider and appraise in viewing. In many ways, a more diverse and enriching experience arises from interacting with this thing of beauty. This is not meditative. It is an intellectual exercise which enriches. It is held within the earthly realm. This is good itself, even though there is imperfect bridging with the heavenly plane.
The significance of pure meditation in prayer is enhancement of the spiritual connection. If one does understand their language of prayer and is able to suppress this recognition, that is a great achievement. This is a difficult task, indeed.
Practicing meditation develops the skill of focusing your thoughts. You will gain proficiency and find it easier to perform. Material life is defined by its distractions. Experiencing life becomes optimal when every moment is felt as mindful meditation. This is the purpose of prayer.
Prayer is a skill that enables us to become Holy like God is Holy. By transcending our physical world and its limitations, we imitate the Deity. This connects us with the eternal.
There was a time when people brought the earthly and heavenly powers together through animal sacrifice. This ritual profoundly affected those who immersed themselves in it. By consuming the sacrifice in fire, the worshipper sought to achieve a relative state of nothingness. He has witnessed as the physical [sacrifice] has reverted back to the spiritual [smoke]. Creation has been reversed to its original unity and harmony.
Being a part of this event, even as an observer, a person is awestruck with a sense of pure Godliness. He or she is transformed to a state of unity. This is great comfort in a world of fragmentation and alienation. The concept of becoming spiritually united with God and transcending worldly concerns and fears is as worthy an endeavor now as it was in biblical times.
This may all seem strange to many today. Animal sacrifice is so heathen to our cultural awareness. Traditions teach that prayer replaced this ceremony. The point is that prayer can achieve the same exultation and elevation of body and spirit.
Health and Spirit by Dr. Jack Zoldan 