No one knows when, where, or why prayer had its first beginnings. We do know that prayer-flags date back pre Buddhism and have a long history high in the Himalayan Mountains. The earliest of prayer was probably not associated with religion, albeit prayer evolved long before the creation of today’s religions; even those religions that date back thousands of years.
When we think of prayer, we think of praying to a deity, to a God. Some cultures pray to natural elements or natural “Gods” and have been doing so for thousands of years. The assumption is that there is a higher being or spirit to which prayer is directed. It is not my intent to attempt to explain the beliefs of the various religions. To be sure, there are scholars within the same religion who cannot agree on even some of the most fundamental doctrine. Every religion has its belief as what or who is God and how to pray to their respective God. What I intend to point out is why prayer has the potential for being a powerful force that you can tap anytime.
What we consider today as formal prayers were handed down from generation to generation for centuries, long before the written word. Eventually, prayers were written and became historical record. The actual wording of today’s prayers is undoubtedly very different from original versions. The origins are unknown, the language is different, and the context is unknown. The original language is interpreted by scholars who make evaluations based on their experiences and on conditions that did not exist at the time the original prayer was formulated. It is not possible to comprehend conditions of several thousand years ago. We can only imagine. Even the most objective and well-intentioned, brilliant scholars make judgments based on filters of education, experience, and opinion.
Although this may be a stretch of the imagination but, as with some legend and folklore, stories told in traditional prayer may also contain some element of truth. Weeding out threads of truth can prove to be quite interesting. For example, one of the most well known prayers of the Christian faith is “The Lord’s Prayer.” There are several versions of The Lord’s Prayer. Being a linguist myself, I am quite aware of the problems associated with interpreting and difficulties in translating. Nevertheless, of all the versions that I have seen, which include interpretations in various languages, the beginning of the prayer remains constant, in fact most of the prayer is very consistent between various languages: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven….” Notice that the wording is not, “…in heaven as it is on earth…,” the wording is “…on earth as it is in heaven….” This infers that this prayer did not originate from an earthly being. Quite the contrary, careful reflection on the wording of the prayer gives the impression that this is an embarkation prayer. The spirit entity is departing the spirit world (heaven) for life (incarnation) on earth. The prayer is reassuring the spirit that the earthly world will be the same as the heavenly (spirit) world. As the prayer continues, it is a request to ensure daily essentials. It is a request for food, “give us this day our daily bread,” it is a request (for strength) in resisting temptations of the earthly body that might lead it to evil things. A spirit could be very apprehensive about incarnating and suddenly having to be concerned about physical well being; especially a first incarnation. Despite room for numerous interpretations and opinions, various versions of the prayer as produced by various scholars remain consistent and basically the same. My objective is simply an attempt to get you to think about the possibility that this prayer is about a spirit, or several spirits, getting ready to make a “journey” (incarnate) to earth. Of course the assumption is that they will eventually return to the “everlasting” spirit world of “heaven.”
Skepticism will be fueled by arguments such as, “How can heaven and earth be the same, the former is spiritual and the latter is material”? From most people’s perspective this is a valid argument. However, from a cosmic perspective, it is not. The reason is that from a cosmic perspective all energy of the universe (the universe being everything) is the same and everything is formed out of the same energy. The difference between the various elements of the physical world and the pure energy eddies of the spirit world are things such as density, frequency, and resonance. I say “physical” world just as a reference to our world but please keep in mind that everything in the universe is relative. What is physical and material to us might not be physical to a being in a different dimension. We may not even be perceptible to such a being, just as other dimensions are not perceptible to us. On the other hand, spirits may be very “material” to other spirits as well as “things” within the spirit world. To reiterate, everything is relative.
Prayer does not need to be formal or traditional. You can make your own prayer. You can pray to whomever or whatever you want and say in your prayer whatever you want. If you are praying for a particular purpose or goal, you can make a short prayer that you can readily repeat to focus energy into making your goal come into existence. You make it a reality through visualization and channeling energy. The real power of prayer is belief -- faith. The stronger your belief in the existence of what it is that you want; the more likely it will come to be. Do not confuse this concept with a wish or a desire; there is a big difference between wishing for something to exist and actually believing that it exists. Under certain circumstances when emotions are extremely strong, you can actually create reality through a strongly focused energy and will something to exist or happen. Usually these cases are spontaneous and under very stressful situations. Do not underestimate the power of the universal energy (God) and the power of your faith.
It may make it easier to understand the power of prayer if you would view prayer as a means to focus energy. Everything in the universe is of one energy. Therefore, everything is inherently connected through the energy of the universe, which permeates all. We simultaneously exist in two different worlds and are made up of two different levels or eddies of the universal energy: spiritual and physical. The former is our everlasting entity (our spirit) and the latter is a denser energy that forms a temporary home for our spirit (our human body) during its present incarnation; a physical manifestation through which our spiritual self can experience the materialistic world. However, as I mentioned above, what is “physical” or “material” and what is not is a matter of relativity. The denser form of energy that makes up our bodies and material objects in our world, our dimension, may not be material in another dimension. On the other hand, the lighter form of energy (relatively speaking of course) that makes up our spirit might very well be material in another dimension, i.e. the spirit world.
We are all part of the universal energy; everything that exists in the universe, material or otherwise, is a part of this universal energy. This is the universal intelligence that we refer to as God. Therefore, we can conclude that we are a part of God. In other words, we are lesser gods. As such we have the power to cause energy to manifest or to form in ways that we envision. This is what I was referring to above when I wrote that you make your own reality through visualization and channeling energy. Prayer is one way of for you to focus energy and create your own reality.
A word of caution: keep your thoughts pure and positive. Energy attracts like energy. If you think negative you will attract negative energy. The result will be that negative things will happen. Be careful of for what you wish. Enough thought about it over a period of time and you will cause it to happen. If you really do not want something; do not think or fantasize about it.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert T. Wood
(For more about energy throughout our lives and the universe, refer to “Everything” by Robert T. Wood.)
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