Theos-Talk Archives (August 1995 Message tl00271)

>>Prayers are regarding not only my words but my=20
>>thoughts and the establishing
>>of good will at a mental level. This is necessary=20
>>in my life and I welcome
>>the use of prayers here on theos-l.
>
>>From THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY by H.P. Blavatsky, pages 66-67:
>
>ENQ: Do you believe in prayer, and do you ever pray?
>THEO: We do not. We ACT, instead of TALKING.
>
>ENQ: You do not offer prayers even to the Absolute Principle?
>THEO: Why should we? Being well-occupied people, we can hardly afford to
>lose time in addressing verbal prayers to a pure abstraction. The=
 Unknowable
>is capable of relations only in its parts to each other, but is=
 non-existent
>as regards any finite relations. The visible universe depends for its
>existence and phenomena on its mutually acting forms and their laws, not on
>prayer or prayers.
>
>ENQ: Do you not believe in the efficacy of prayer?
>THEO: Not in prayers taught in so many words and repeated externally, if by
>prayer you mean the outward petition to an unknown God as the addressee,
>which was inaugurated by the Jews and popularised by the Pharisees.

I'm currently fascinated with Judaism and think quite highly of their
prayers in order to test them. One thing I've found out about myself is
that if someone warns me by criticizing something I might otherwise think
innocent enough, I'll go and try it. I've got to see for myself if this
awful verdict I've been handed is . It's like that for me so often.
Criticize Alice Bailey, we study Alice Bailey. Criticize I AM Temple, let's
participate there. Criticize my Mormon friend for wearing a head scarf, we
separate and I learn from her as much as possible. Criticize Paul Johnson's
book, and FINALLY I have an opportunity to judge for myself. How will you
ever know anything if you don't experience it?

Isn't it fascinating that there is a prayer which doesn't do the trick?
Gee, here it sounds like somebody may have been praying wrong. I doubt if
anyone who understands the constitution of man would pray in this way.
Simply having a seven-fold nature and a path to spiritual enlightenment
takes away the concern of H.P.B.'s objectionable definition.

>ENQ: Is there any other kind of prayer?
>THEO: Most decidedly; we call it WILL-PRAYER, and it is rather an internal
>command than a petition.

Let's take for granted that I just speak the words to a prayer and don't use
an internal command. Praise be to Adonai for giving us this blessed
sabbath. Praise be to Adonai for he has filled our table and hearts with
bounty. Just saying these words bring a wonderful effect in the atmosphere.
(I am not praising myself. I am not claiming to be an Almighty influence
upon the earth. I am praying my thanks and my wonder at the universe. It's
like sparks that purify and brighten my soul, helping me to be gentle,
forgiving, kind, and merciful. Those are the qualities I'm hoping "God"
will meld into the fiber of my existence. =20

>ENQ: To whom, then, do you PRAY when you do so?
>THEO: To "our Father in heaven"--in its esoteric meaning.
>
>ENQ: Is that different from the one given to it in theology?
>THEO: Entirely so. An Occultist or a Theosophist addresses his prayer to=
 HIS
>FATHER WHICH IS IN SECRET (read, and try to understand, ch. vi. v.6,
>Matthew), not to an extra-cosmic and therefore finite God; and that=
 "Father"
>is in man himself.
>*********************
I realize we need one of Ann's terrific definitions again, so here's one
from me.

prayer (pr=E2r) n. 1.a. A reverent petition made to God, a god, or another
object of worship. b. The act of making a reverent petition to God, a god,
or another object of worship. 2. An act of communion with God, a god, or
another object of worship, such as in devotion, confession, praise, or
thanksgiving:

>H.P. Blavatsky seems to be saying there is no prayer at all (worthy of the
>Theosophist) except that addressed to one's own higher nature. There is no
>point in praying to Christ or the Masters or the World-Soul or any other
>being, real or imagined.=20

We can pray to all of those beings: Christ, Masters, the World-Soul if we
like because in doing so we attempt to realize our own unique nature to be
like theirs in some way. The unity might be also real or imagined for that
matter, but the effects are observable. I think they are most observable in
someone like H.P.B. for that matter, in her great love for humanity and
desire to grant humanity their heart's desire for a greater realization of
life as it should be, by keeping the flame of truth alive and not burying it
just because it is a second definition not a first....

>And I can't see why one would post one's personal will-prayers=20
>to the Higher Self on a public bulletin board. What is to be gained? =20

I posted some forms of prayers here because it is a worthwhile energy to
resist your attempt at leadership, your smearing of good intentions, and
your blind obedience.

Defiantly,

Brenda