Lent 2020 - Day Nine
Is there anything lamer than a politician offering their 'thoughts and prayers' after yet another mass-shooting or terrorist attack? The formulation, effective when cynical agnostics had not the means to mock en masse via computer networks, is dead. Derided to the point of extinction. 'Thoughts' maybe, but the word 'prayers' coming from the mouth of a politician known neither for their religiosity nor empathy nor sincerity doesn't work.
Praying is something associated with belief; "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!" yelled an angry Jim Morrison in the spoken introduction to the Doors song The Soft Parade. He does it with such conviction that arguing against his proposition would seem futile. He raises an interesting question. Can you petition the Lord with prayer? If so, for what?
Assuming that you do hold some kind of a view that God of some sort of another exists - in your built-from-the-ground-up religion, what role would prayer take? How would prayer look? How would you communicate with the universal deity? Would it be right to ask God for anything - to petition the Lord with prayer? And if so - would that prayer work? Would it be effective?
The danger with learned prayers, recantations of remembered words, is that they have the effect of removing consciousness from the process. It is more meaningful to seek the quiet, listening approach. Pray not in words, but in feeling. Opening the mind, in a calm, contemplative state of mind is a good start - and just listening. Applying your consciousness to being in a state of listening... acceptance... and what happens? A tumult of haphazard thoughts and worries - or a clear, single thought that makes perfect sense?
Prayer is a dialogue; I do believe there is a back-channel, but you must be prepared and open to listen to it. Ask the right question, in the right frame of mind, reflect upon it in silence, and listen to the wisdom embedded in all those atoms of which you are made. You realise that you are listening to God. This is the moment that an unbidden thought - one that you have not cogitated upon - enters your consciousness. It may not be what you have been seeking. It may only be a partial answer, or a clue to consider another way. You may find the answer disappointing, confusing, exhilarating. But you must know that it is the answer. You must be sure that it's authentic; that it's not wishful thinking nor self-justification. It may take weeks, it may even take years of trying to hear that real voice.
I see prayer not as a recitation of learned phrases, rather a conscious communication with the eternal and the infinite; prayer as seeking an understanding of what is really what. Prayer at the cusp of wakefulness and sleep; lying in bed at the end of the day, I attempt to clear the mind of day-to-day concerns and try to integrate my consciousness into the flowing fabric of the universe, woven from the particles and waves that can bring insight in a flash... Yet all too often I fall asleep before reaching a state where I am in true prayer, where the communication with the infinite becomes two-way. But when it does, it is life-enhancing. It literally makes life better.
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| Dreams and prayers |
To approach prayer in a rewarding way, you should begin by being grateful. Profoundly grateful for life, for consciousness, for the here-and-now, for the moment; abandon all ruminations, all negativity, all grievances - and move on to a positive, grateful track; then quietly listen.
Meditation, focusing on breathing, all helps to bring you back to the hear and now and let go of the cares and woes. It is worth remembering that we are but discreet units of consciousness upon a planet that's part of a far greater whole; looking at the moon or stars helps with this thought.
Prayers for something - petitioning the Lord with prayer - should never be about wanting the material or for status, but for what harmonises with the natural order; prayers for health, security, contentment, acceptance, joy, even; pray for that which builds your will and boosts your determination; pray for that which guides you.
How lucky are you? Chance acts of chaos - car crashes, unexpected illness, premature death of loved ones, financial troubles, terrorism, war, cataclysm - we live our lives through a minefield of potential disasters. We walk constantly upon the edge of chaos. Can you want to be lucky? You'd think that no one wants to be unlucky. No one wishes bad things to happen to themselves. But do you consciously want to be lucky?
My father asked me from time to time, rhetorically, I think, "dlaczego miałem tyle szczęścia?" ('why was I so lucky?'). He most certainly was.
Perhaps it's because he wanted to be?
Conscious willing upon oneself of good luck requires one prime ingredient - gratitude. This is something that I've turned into a habit - twice a day, while brushing my teeth, I express gratitude for my teeth, my health, the health of loved ones - and then for peace, for prosperity, and then I wish good upon my environment.
But is it like Schrodinger's luck - until you look into the box, you're lucky and unlucky at the same time? What constitutes 'opening the box'? Getting safely through to the end of the day, the end of a year, another birthday, another milestone passed? This is Ig Nobel Prize territory. How can you scientifically measure luck by any objective criteria?
If I'd have written these words at the age of 31, I might have thought that I'm a bit, previous. Indeed, I have been hesitant is writing these words for this very reason. If I'm mown down by a reckless driver while crossing the street today, or diagnosed with a life-threatening disease a few months from now, the words on this post will have been proved utterly wrong. Chance, I pray, is on my side. It is on my side because I consciously will it be so.
I'm lucky to have been born in 1957 rather than 1927 or 1857. I'm lucky to have been born with good genes. I'm lucky enough to have had a reasonably good education. I'm living in Poland partly out of luck but more out of conscious choice, I am lucky that Poland is in the best economic and geopolitical situation its been in for centuries.
The only way for you, dear reader, to see if I'm right or wrong is to follow this blog for the next 30 to 40 years!
This time last year:
Honey, it's post!
This time two years ago:
Consciousness, and the war between Science and Religion
This time three years ago:
The atoms within us
This time six years ago:
Our house gets connected to the town drains
This time seven years ago:
No more revelations
This time nine years ago:
Free will vs. destiny
Conscious willing upon oneself of good luck requires one prime ingredient - gratitude. This is something that I've turned into a habit - twice a day, while brushing my teeth, I express gratitude for my teeth, my health, the health of loved ones - and then for peace, for prosperity, and then I wish good upon my environment.
But is it like Schrodinger's luck - until you look into the box, you're lucky and unlucky at the same time? What constitutes 'opening the box'? Getting safely through to the end of the day, the end of a year, another birthday, another milestone passed? This is Ig Nobel Prize territory. How can you scientifically measure luck by any objective criteria?
If I'd have written these words at the age of 31, I might have thought that I'm a bit, previous. Indeed, I have been hesitant is writing these words for this very reason. If I'm mown down by a reckless driver while crossing the street today, or diagnosed with a life-threatening disease a few months from now, the words on this post will have been proved utterly wrong. Chance, I pray, is on my side. It is on my side because I consciously will it be so.
I'm lucky to have been born in 1957 rather than 1927 or 1857. I'm lucky to have been born with good genes. I'm lucky enough to have had a reasonably good education. I'm living in Poland partly out of luck but more out of conscious choice, I am lucky that Poland is in the best economic and geopolitical situation its been in for centuries.
The only way for you, dear reader, to see if I'm right or wrong is to follow this blog for the next 30 to 40 years!
This time last year:
Honey, it's post!
This time two years ago:
Consciousness, and the war between Science and Religion
This time three years ago:
The atoms within us
This time six years ago:
Our house gets connected to the town drains
This time seven years ago:
No more revelations
This time nine years ago:
Free will vs. destiny
I commend your Dad for having a “cup-half-full” view of life - that he was lucky. But in some ways, he was not so lucky. He lost 2 brothers, one very young, during the war. He was unable to return to his homeland post war, losing valuable cultural and family connections. These are not minor losses. They are profound. He married your mum, who also endured tragic losses. They lives, along with my parents’ lives, were filled with irreparable loss. And our lives as their children were tainted with that.
ReplyDeleteTheir long, healthy and productive lives post-war were ‘lucky’ to a degree. Lucky for their stolid health, but ‘luck’ in their careers and raising a family, was mostly due to hard, diligent work, nose to the grindstone mentality, and a belief that God was on their side, Also living in the ‘right place’, which was a choice.
@ Teresa
ReplyDelete'Cup-half-full' is very important! Indeed, my father was an engineer, so his view is that the cup was twice as big as it needed to be, and he would have been in his workshop in the garage with a glass cutter, carefully taking off the empty top of the glass, leaving a smaller one that's brim-full!
My father was also able to put his past beside him, and did not revisit it until my mother died - and then four annual pilgrimages to Warsaw in a row. As much as he felt the need to honour the past he was also there to marvel at the development of his Warsaw into a modern, dynamic city out of the rubble that he left behind in October 1944.
'Right place' a choice? Your parents made that big step further from the UK to Canada... I can't recall my parents ever discussing such an option. Going back to Poland wasn't an option; I guess that London was fine for them.
God was a Sunday thing, never discussed at home. My parents weren't devout, there was never any religious literature or icons around the house, but Sunday Mass was never missed. It was something one did, went to Mass. No discussion afterwards as to the homily or anything said.
God was on our side. We sang Boże, coś Polskę every Sunday with such conviction that I felt as a child that the last line Rać nam wrócić, Panie would one day be fulfilled.
Question for you, then. If God was only a Sunday thing and religion was rarely discussed in your family’s home, why the Lenten journey for you, with all it entails? I understand your quest for spiritual understanding, but why emphasize this quest in line with the Christian calendar?
ReplyDeleteI ask this question because I am the ‘opposite’ to you.
My parents were devout, often discussing the homily on the way home from Mass, we did have religious icons in the house and religious literature written by ecclesiastical experts was a presence on the coffee table. Yet, I do not go to Mass now. Lent is meaningless to me. I will celebrate Easter, but the holiday only serves as a means to bring my family together for a really nice meal!
I felt my parents close relationship with God was because they had no close family to lean on. Friends yes, many of them. But they were no substitute for family.
@Teresa,
ReplyDeleteRe: why I do Lent, I'd ask rhetorically why Christians have Christmas Day in late-December when pretty much all historical sources would have Jesus born in autumn. The answer is because Christians put their 'flagship' feast on top of a Pagan one - Sol Invictus - a few days after the winter solstice when it became obvious that the sun would not disappear, but the day would lengthen yet again... Fasting in late winter, early spring, the przednówek, when the granaries were nearly empty and the harvest was a long way off, made sense from a social control context. I use this period for spiritual growth, although the Christian Easter story does carry a powerful mystical message.
Wow! Interesting about your parents' devotional character! For my parents, going to Mass on Sundays was simply something one did, without thinking about it too much, just another routine part of life. Great contrast indeed!