Understanding Prayer:
Cooperation with Cosmic Forces
There are spiritual energies that can be accessed everywhere in the world – forces of consciousness are at work everywhere. The human being can perceive these forces of consciousness and enter into cooperation with them. Prayer research means that I enter into resonance with the vibrational pattern of universal information. I step out of the kind of thinking that comes from separation and definitions and begin to perceive and cooperate with all forces of consciousness. In prayer we can study and learn to understand the logic of universal love. In prayer we connect with the thinking power of the heart.
There is neither a God outside of the human being, nor is there no God. The universal divine aspect of Creation wants to be realized through us humans. This is a dialectic process of Becoming. The Divine is the highest creative and spiritual goal image of the entire universe and of all things in the process of Becoming. The human being has the task of bringing this power of consciousness onto Earth and realizing it.
As a collective, we have gone through a phase of atheism, which was triggered by Marx, Nietzsche and others. Religion was seen as opium for the people. This historic phase was perhaps necessary in order to thoroughly clean out the history of religion from which we come. Countless wars have been fought due to a false image of religion. This God of Terror came about through the focused power of humans, who gave birth to him and strengthened him as an idea. They managed to get millions of people to pray to him, thus bringing forth his cruelty. What was called forth was not the spirit of love – it was the spirit of punishment, power and suppression. Cultures always gained power by creating highly effective icons.
Healing does not occur so much by abolishing religion. Life itself has a religious aspect. We are faced with the challenge of honoring the sacred quality of life and giving it back the position it deserves. We can again step into the miracle of Creation and perception. We can consciously access the universal powers of consciousness that we desire and that serve the humanity of life. Here, too, the dialectic principle applies. It is up to us to decide which universal powers we invoke and realize. We must therefore, of course, free ourselves from all old religious and moral ideas and from ideas that are hostile to love, as well as from the punishing God that is still latently operating in us. We must discover what the universal power of love might be and how it can operate. A humane God or an all-embracing, loving Mother Goddess already exists in the highest longing of human beings. The divine power of a humane world is becoming more and more concrete, and it is giving birth to a force of peace from a new and higher principle. Here, the power of the world and that of humans will unite in their purest form and highest potency.
The world of universal consciousness does not want us to be small and subjugated, but in our full divine presence and power of realization. In this sense, the human being needs the humane divine power and God needs humans for his/her own realization. Those who desire a humane world and still believe in its fulfillment will explore the inner spaces of resonance through which this cooperation can come about. For it is only through this process that field-generating and healing changes can come about.
The idea that there is a humane consciousness in the universe is the strongest driving force for its realization. Our full connection with this idea brings forth the strongest power, the highest will, and the greatest trust. By taking a stand for our own full connection with this idea, it becomes a very personal experience of God, an endless source of power. Ultimately, trust is only possible in connection with this divine humane source. It is the source of our creative actions. This is where the dialectic principle of Creator and Creation is realized. The idea of a religion of Creation is a better description of this process than that of a religion of salvation, which promises us a paradise beyond and a God outside of ourselves in order to make us submissive and governable here on Earth.
In prayer, an essential source of power is to give thanks. It is often only by giving thanks that I begin to perceive fully what the world is presenting to me. One early morning I got the message “Give – take – give thanks”. This is the most elementary way of describing the process of every prayer.
In addition to giving, asking is an important element in prayer. Inform the Cosmos of what you truly want and need, and you will receive it. The Cosmos does not react to servility and begging – it needs free human beings who inform it clearly and simply. It is up to us to formulate our wishes so unequivocally that they can be understood. If secret desires and fears oppose the request we formulate, then this causes “static on the line.” The world cannot answer then, for the channels of information are blocked.
A further essential element in prayer is the lack of inner contradictions. If, for example, I am full of violence without knowing it, then I cannot pray effectively for peace. Intensive prayer research automatically leads to self-transformation. We encounter many beliefs, dogmas and old fears that prevent us from realizing our own true, higher gestalt. Prayer research is therefore always also consciousness research concerning the processes of one’s own soul. There will be no peace on earth as long as there is war within us. Those who are against war need a vision for peace, also for their own peace.
It is therefore important for all peacework that we begin to develop images of an all-encompassing peace. We are challenged to take these images and the true longings that are resonating latently in our souls seriously and transform them into effective icons. In its most encompassing form, prayer unites with the visionary power of a new Creation. This new Creation is not arbitrary; instead, it emerges from the already existing powers of Creation and from cooperation with it. (…)
Nobody has to believe in God in order to pray. But one must have the absolute will to open up new fields of consciousness, question old beliefs, and rid oneself of prejudice. (…)
During meditation I experience that the entire biosphere is designed on the basis of trust and communication. When I am in a state of trust, I communicate differently than when in a state of mistrust or fear. When I am trusting, I open all my senses toward the world – if, however, I fear or distrust, my organs of communication immediately close off and I am no longer open for perceiving. Each type of communication that I choose brings about a different reality. Practicing trust is an essential aspect of prayer research. It is a matter of decision whether to walk the path of trust or not.
The human being’s universal powers of consciousness are dependent on feedback and information. The source of this consciousness must be used, or else it will become stale. The human being is an essential part of this source and its constant transformation and renewal. If the human being does not inform and provide feedback, then this part is missing in the chain of information, resulting in faulty developments. Figuratively speaking one can say that the computer has not received the necessary input and therefore produces false results. The resulting illnesses are seen as healthy and normal.
The human being has forgotten his/her spiritual origin and the spiritual world has forgotten the material state of being. The forgetting is equally great on both sides. Prayer is work to reestablish a natural connection. Continuity in prayer allows us to remember and become conscious of our own origins, our will and our true goal.
In this sense, life itself ultimately becomes our prayer, in that we constantly train our powers of trust. Life itself has an answer for us, if we want to hear it. I have often experienced this connection in situations of distress. As long as I cling to my distress, the universal reality of love cannot reach me. Divine life is therefore always a process of communication between the human being and the world. True prayer means to enter into the process of Creation as a fully participating and responsible person. This is our task, our duty and, at the same time, our freedom. This is where the historic birth of the humane human being occurs.
I then do not have to sit down, close my eyes and pray. In a state of connectedness, every bird’s song, every telephone call and every encounter holds meaning and promise.
It is only when our senses have become free that we can see the state of fear in which the beings on the entire Earth find themselves. If we begin to take spiritual research seriously, we automatically become political human beings. We then recognize our task as custodians of the Earth, and how essential it is that we become the perceiving and speaking organ that we are meant to be. The emergence of worldwide peace depends on our actions. There is no humane God without human beings. A prayer that comes from love automatically seeks answers to the suppression of life and it seeks to overcome every situation of violence.
An important source for a spiritual way of life lies in the area of Eros. In early cultures, it was natural to hold erotic celebrations as a way of thanking the Goddess and Creation. It was clear that Eros was a divine power and source, and not a personal one. In an erotic life practice, the goal is to bring spiritual knowledge into our bodies and senses. Whether we have success in our erotic life practice essentially determines if we seek our fulfillment in the beyond or in life on Earth, if we become clinical and frustrated pragmatists or if we understand how to celebrate the miracle of Creation. It is not a question of overcoming sexuality, as many spiritual teachers claim, but one of giving birth to the erotic human being. Eros begins to blossom fully when the human being enters into cosmic consciousness. When that occurs, cosmic love is no longer separated from sensual love.
May the Goddess operate within us and through us. May the forces of a worldwide peace-creating spirit be realized.
You read an excerpt of the book Sources of Love and Peace by Sabine Lichtenfels