The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNITY WAY March 14, 2004 ------------------------------------------------------ The Art of Prayer: Concentration Part II by Andrei Yashurin Our inner eyes serve to us as magnifying glasses. What we mentally behold, becomes to us more tangible and real. By staying focused on our problems, we empower them and disarm ourselves. By staying focused on God, we enable ourselves to display divine attributes in greater measure. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 This statement shows the way to spiritual power and perfection of character for all who want to find them. The way is simple. It does not depend on our involvement with particular groups of people. We are not required to embrace elaborated theology or to practice complex rituals. Paraphrasing Paul we may state that all we need to do is to look up to God and to be like God. We will be able to "speak to the mountain" and command it to be removed with confidence when our eyes behold something infinitely greater than the mountain. The Bible repeatedly mentions that people were "looking up to Heaven" and lifted up their hands in prayer. Personally, I do not think that position of our body in prayer is a matter of great importance. We need to comprehend symbolic meaning of those sayings. God does not abide in a physical "Heaven" up there. Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, is within us (Luke 17:21). But Heaven, as Charles Fillmore defined it, is "the Christ consciousness; the realm of Divine Mind; a state of consciousness in harmony with the thoughts of God". We truly "look up to Heaven" when we acquire exalted thoughts about God, ourselves, and the whole world. If our prayers do not change the way we think about things, they may be considered "vain repetitions". Lifting up of our hands symbolizes dedicating all of our energies to fulfilling our mission in this world. We affirm our desire to love God not only with our heart and mind, but also with all our strength. It is not enough to mentally agree with God and with our good. The life of God that we accept is meant to be lived and expressed in our environment. If we are not willing to give ourselves to our divinely assigned work, our life will remain empty and barren, no matter how hard we pray for the fullness of blessings. Some people complain that they do not feel anything while trying to stay focused on God. But let it never stop us from seeking the Presence. Special feelings and mystical experiences do happen during prayer, but we should not look for them. They are never meant to be the end of themselves. They are not the measure of effectiveness of our prayers or the level of our spiritual maturity. It is possible to become spiritually unbalanced and to lose sight of our goals through excessive interest in mysticism. Let us not envy experiences of others, no matter how bright and exciting they seem to be. Let us be ourselves. Let us stay where we are and do our work, without reaching for blessings and gifts of others. Our blessings will prove to be totally adequate for us. ------------------------------------------------------ Andrei Yashurin: pczine@yandex.ru If you like our list, please recommend it to others. All messages (c) 2004 by Andrei Yashurin -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=lit.unityway&email= http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com