About Prayer

About Prayer

Then a priestess said: ‘Speak to us of prayer!’
And the prophet replied:
‘Most of you pray only in times of need and distress,
But wise ones also pray in the fullness of their
Joy and days of abundance.
What is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ethers?
For as long as you receive comfort through pouring
Your darkness and negativity into space,
At least make an effort to create balance
By also sharing your delights and joys with the Universe.
And don’t forget to give thanks for all that Earth life itself,
Your kind, patient and loving teacher,
Brings to you all your experiences,
So that through learning and growing
You become ever more heaven-tall.

‘For as long as human souls are still unaware of their true nature,
They can do nothing but weep and complain,
Wise ones, however, give thanks and praise to their Creator,
Whenever their soul summons them to prayer.
Until you become one of them,
Shed your tears and be comforted by God and the Angels.
Through them they bring you healing, as they draw closer to you.
When you learn to surrender all your troubles and woes
To them, your Highest or God Self,
You, the small earthly self, together with your soul,
Will soon be smiling again.

‘Whenever you go within to communicate
With your soul and pray,
Your consciousness rises to meet in the ethers those
Who are also praying at that very moment,
And whom you would otherwise be unable to contact or meet.
For each one of you I wish that,
In the long course of your evolutionary journey,
In the fullness of time, every one
Of your visits to your inner temple of the soul
Will be for nothing but spiritual ecstasy
And sweet communions with God and the Angels.
I beg of you, when you go there,
Take care not to make demands on them.
Isn’t it enough that you are allowed to enter the temple
And just be there for a while,
To be recharged with their loving energies?

‘Nobody can teach you how to pray in words.
The Divine does not listen to your words,
Save when S/He utters them through your lips.
And as all of you can only learn from their own experiences,
You have to find out for yourself
The prayers of the oceans, forests and mountains.
The only ones who know their prayers in their hearts
Are those who were born in these places.

‘And if you listen in the stillness of the night,
You will be able to hear their silent pleas:
‘Our God, who art our winged self,
It is Thy will in us that willeth,
It is Thy desire in us that desireth,
And it’s Thy urge in us that turns our nights,
Which are Thine, into days,
Which are also Thine.
We cannot ask Thee for aught,
For Thou knowest everybody’s needs
Long before they are born into earthly life.

‘Each soul is born of Thy desires.
Thou art our need
And in giving us more of Thyself,
Thou givest us all.’

From ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran 1883-1931
Lebanese/American poet
Edited by Aquarius

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