About Prayer

[Nameless]

I've been reading the forum topics again and came across one discussing prayer. I found it interesting but also disappointing as it devolved into insignificance.

I would like to ask everyone to put aside your pre-conceived notions regarding prayer. Forget the connection to religion, church and God and just consider what prayer itself is.

If you pray, what would you pray on or about?
If you pray, when would you pray?
If you pray, what are your expectations when you pray?

IF you don't pray, then substitute the word pray, underlined above for what you do. Perhaps you meditate. Perhaps you talk to your higher self or to your guides. Perhaps you have another word I have not included.

Prayer is a word commonly associated with religion and carries with it a negative connotation for those who do not consider themselves religious. But really, it is no different nor does it work any differently than other words commonly used by the non-religious. If we can understand that and get beyond 'the religion' we can better understand each other.

That other thread is well over a decade old so I will simply answer here in this new thread.

The question was,
"Has anybody of you ever actaully gotten help or response
to prayers? It would be wery interesting to know"

My answer is simple: Yes.

you can find that thread here if you are interested
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_integral_philosophy/praying-t649.0.html

[PlasmaAstralProjection]

If you pray, what would you pray on or about? I would pray for a million dollars.

If you pray, when would you pray? At my bed side at night, and my night light on.

If you pray, what are your expectations when you pray? I expect Zeus to make my lotto balls fall into place.

OK seriously. I don't pray any more. But if I do it would be more of a universalist prayer. That is more like a poem or an affirmation than praying to a guy with a beard up in the sky.

[Nameless]

OK seriously. I don't pray any more. But if I do it would be more of a universalist prayer. That is more like a poem or an affirmation than praying to a guy with a beard up in the sky.

And that is the point I'm making. Prayer has nothing to do with a bearded guy in the sky unless that is your own personal belief. Prayer is nothing more than reaching out just like meditation and affirmations. Thank you for your input Plasma.

[LightBeam]

Praying to external sources (gods, goddesses, saints, guides, deceased relatives, etc), meditation, positive thinking, imagining yourself that you already have what you want, etc, all the above are tools to intensify your beliefs. The beliefs are the very force that manipulates the energy and transforms it into perceivable various events. From a higher perspective, when we understand that we are parts of All That Is (this is my understanding of God), then we have no restrictions of using as much energy as we need just by believing we can, and crate whatever we need ourselves. Now, on the other hand we all (entities we perceive as gods, spirits, and all the above I listed) interact in many levels all the time, and we help each other in many ways. So, if I ask my deceased relatives for help in difficult situations, I believe that they will assist me they best they can). And I have experienced this and received results. Here is one example. One of my aunts was going to cause a huge chaos in my family with her ruthless nature. We knew what was coming as she warned us. I was beyond stressed out and afraid. I called my dad and my grandfather for help to send some common sense to my aunt and prevent this from happening. A few minutes later I went to the kitchen and started putting the clean dishes away. Now, I rarely drop or break anything, but at that moment I felt that someone swung my hand over the counter and one of the glasses fell into the floor and broke. It was weird though, because I watched my hand doing this motion without my involvement sort of in a slow motion. The moment it swept the glass off the counter and before hitting the floor, a thought popped into my head " Don't worry, we are here and we will help". In that instance I knew that my relatives were giving me a sign that I should believe they have heard me and they will help. They did this to let me know and have me stop worrying, because I felt like I was going to have a hart attack. The situation was that serious. And sure enough the next day the situation resolved in the best possible way. My aunt cried to my mom and now I have my cousins back and we all are in good terms. This was so unexpected and sort of like a miracle, knowing my aunt's personality. It was like she was a different person. So, I do believe that we all help each other no matter in what dimensions we reside. We are just a thought away from one another no matter where we are.

[Nameless]

That was really cool LightBeam and that is exactly how prayer is. It is just opening to what we need at the time. At the time you needed relatives and confidants to help and they did. I also recently had a similar event. A family member attempted suicide. I knew they were going to do it and also knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. I 'prayed' to family asking them to intervene and be with this family member. Immediately I felt the full force of family members from the other side (some I didn't even know). They flooded me with images so I could see them and know they had heard and were on it. The one attempting suicide did not succeed and the fact that he survived defies common logic as the car was destroyed. They told me (much later) that no matter how hard they pushed the accelerator they simply could not force it down all the way. Surprisingly the car's airbags had worked. It was an old car and the air bags had not been replaced correctly, they should not have worked at all. So that day my prayer went to family. Hugs! And I am happy your experience turned out just fine too.

[LightBeam]

That was really cool LightBeam and that is exactly how prayer is. It is just opening to what we need at the time. At the time you needed relatives and confidants to help and they did. I also recently had a similar event. A family member attempted suicide. I knew they were going to do it and also knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. I 'prayed' to family asking them to intervene and be with this family member. Immediately I felt the full force of family members from the other side (some I didn't even know). They flooded me with images so I could see them and know they had heard and were on it. The one attempting suicide did not succeed and the fact that he survived defies common logic as the car was destroyed. They told me (much later) that no matter how hard they pushed the accelerator they simply could not force it down all the way. Surprisingly the car's airbags had worked. It was an old car and the air bags had not been replaced correctly, they should not have worked at all. So that day my prayer went to family. Hugs! And I am happy your experience turned out just fine too.

Wow, that was some miracle, Nameless! I'm so glad everything worked out for the best. If we accept the so called "supernatural" occurrences as normal, we will eliminate that physical law belief barrier and our connection to everything else that we think is so far away will become stronger.

[Nameless]

Yes it was and just accepting it as such is all that's required. I have had numerous prayers answered in my life regardless whether I was praying to the God I once believed in, The God as I came to understand it or to any power that was relevant at the time.

I new a lady once, worked with her a few years. She was a confirmed atheist BUT she also knew the power of prayer. She simply called it meditation and it worked equally as well for her.