| Prayers.....................31 | |
| people, but also for themselves. Your meditations and prayers must vary; you need to sense the next | 3 CHOOSING YOUR DESTINY -- THE WILL TO CHANGE |
| help you with it. In this way your prayers will come alive. Then, after you have asked | 3 CHOOSING YOUR DESTINY -- THE WILL TO CHANGE |
| If Heaven were outside, would it need your prayers that God's will be done there? Could you | 9 PRAYER AND MEDITATION -- THE LORD'S PRAYER |
| more things about this most beautiful of all prayers, which contains everything -- yes, everything -- you | 9 PRAYER AND MEDITATION -- THE LORD'S PRAYER |
| notice that you do receive answers to your prayers, to your questions about what the will of | 16 SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT -- WILLPOWER |
| God for His help. Many people say wonderful prayers using beautiful and poetic words, but they seldom | 17 THE CALL -- DAILY REVIEW |
| the strength to heal through prayer. However, your prayers and your thinking of friends, or of anyone | 17 THE CALL -- DAILY REVIEW |
| themselves but for other people also. Offer your prayers for general development, for the unhappy souls who | 17 THE CALL -- DAILY REVIEW |
| Christ. Only God the Creator should receive our prayers. What God expects from you and what is | 19 JESUS CHRIST |
| to love Him or that you recite some prayers. As you know, the true love of God | 32 DECISION-MAKING |
| I want to say a few words about prayers. We observe you as you pray. You say | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| you pray. You say the right kind of prayers; you are praying ardently, untiringly, even patiently for | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| for. Yet it often happens that when your prayers are answered, you do not know it. You | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| tests are nothing less than answers to your prayers. You need to go through these tests before | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| unpleasant experience was the very answer to their prayers. Without this occurrence they could not have removed | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| There are many who pray daily, using ready-made prayers, or perhaps self-made ones, but without doing what | 36 PRAYER |
| for loved ones -- which is easy. Your prayers should also be for those whom you do | 36 PRAYER |
| know that many people are afraid that their prayers are selfish. But that depends very much on | 39 IMAGE-FINDING |
| the other person. Take your intent into your prayers, my friends. Ask God to help you first | 47 THE WALL WITHIN |
| any more, it is better to have short prayers that change according to your needs at any | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| on your endeavors to develop yourself. In your prayers, concentrate on finding the truth about yourself, on | 59 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| would have been in the synagogue, chanting solemn prayers with His congregation. Yom Kippur is also designated | 70 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| it in a spirit of truth. In your prayers, say, Even if I do not understand why | 99 FALSIFIED IMPRESSIONS OF PARENTS: THEIR CAUSE AND CURE |
| - - also goes through these phases. The prayers are the expression of the various phases. It | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| causes supplication, prayer will be expressed accordingly. When prayers seem to be answered in this state, it | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| for what really ails you. The most beautiful prayers, the loftiest thoughts can never replace utter self-facing | 115 PERCEPTION, DETERMINATION, LOVE AS ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS |
| is religious meditation, which consists of reciting set prayers. There is meditation in which the main emphasis | 182 PROCESS OF MEDITATION (MEDITATION FOR THREE VOICES: EGO, LOWER SELF, HIGHER SELF) |
| this separated other entity. Even these primitive petitionary prayers may often be heard because the power of | 194 MEDITATION: LAWS AND VARIOUS APPROACHES-SUMMARY (MEDITATION AS POSITIVE LIFE CREATION) |
| it was said in one of the greatest prayers. Then you will be free: free to let | 201 DEMAGNETIZING NEGATIVE FORCE FIELDS -- PAIN OF GUILT |
| bathed in the grace of God. All your prayers flow into one central point. Through such an | 255 THE BIRTHING PROCESS -- COSMIC PULSE |
| it may often be necessary to divide your prayers, for the sake of your deeper understanding of | 255 THE BIRTHING PROCESS -- COSMIC PULSE |
| Praying.....................29 | |
| always in the same way, not only when praying for other people, but also for themselves. Your | 3 CHOOSING YOUR DESTINY -- THE WILL TO CHANGE |
| people, even to those who are accustomed to praying and turning to God with all the little | 13 POSITIVE THINKING: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG KIND |
| reading these lectures, or simply by meditating and praying every day you have a guarantee that you | 27 ESCAPE POSSIBLE ALSO ON THE PATH |
| and overcome your resistance by recognizing it and praying for help, then the recognition will come. It | 27 ESCAPE POSSIBLE ALSO ON THE PATH |
| and you can help him, not only by praying for him, but also by teaching him certain | 27 ESCAPE POSSIBLE ALSO ON THE PATH |
| your prayer. By seeing this discrepancy and yet praying for that end and continuing the work of | 30 SELF-WILL, PRIDE AND FEAR |
| say the right kind of prayers; you are praying ardently, untiringly, even patiently for the things you | 35 TURNING TO GOD |
| to concentrate than by a systematic way of praying. By focusing on an object you will not | 36 PRAYER |
| grace. The same procedure should be practiced in praying for your enemies. Here the mental process may | 36 PRAYER |
| some of the time when you are not praying. When something goes wrong, most people are unable | 36 PRAYER |
| strength and the desire to do so when praying, in direct awareness of the duty to do | 36 PRAYER |
| By routine I mean that you go on praying for the same things and the act itself | 36 PRAYER |
| it does become second nature, do not cease praying, but be wakeful that your prayer remains alive | 36 PRAYER |
| day? ANSWER: The spreading of truth among humankind. Praying for unhappy souls and human beings generally. Praying | 36 PRAYER |
| Praying for unhappy souls and human beings generally. Praying for loved ones -- which is easy. Your | 36 PRAYER |
| often what you want to do. You think praying and pondering a little bit about your mistakes | 37 ACCEPTANCE, RIGHT AND WRONG WAY -- DIGNITY IN HUMILITY |
| the main intent of your prayer, apart from praying for others, and consider the resulting happiness a | 39 IMAGE-FINDING |
| is it so difficult at times to start praying at all? ANSWER: You all know that your | 39 IMAGE-FINDING |
| in this one small symptom of having difficulty praying in front of others lies a very significant | 42 CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS -- OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY |
| unselfish. Suppose you desire perfect health. In your praying for it, or simply in your awareness of | 56 CAPACITY TO WISH -- HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY MOTIVES IN DESIRE |
| For the love and goodwill you generate by praying for another person definitely makes an imprint on | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| extensions, but I will present them anyway. Will praying for others be productive of constructive results in | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| you have clearly examined your real motive for praying and have no illusions about it, your prayer | 65 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
| is it so difficult at times to start praying at all? ANSWER: You all know that your | 76 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Compiled from Private Sessions and Earlier Lectures) |
| even go through a stage of not actively praying at all, in the usual sense. But he | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| forgiveness, and love that human beings have been praying for, addressing for millennia a God outside themselves | 226 APPROACH TO SELF -- SELF-FORGIVENESS WITHOUT CONDONING THE LOWER SELF |
| fulfill your deepest yearning. While you may be praying to be able to give and love, you | 237 LEADERSHIP -- THE ART OF TRANSCENDING FRUSTRATION |
| leads me to the second point. Only by praying for divine assistance and intervention, by turning to | 244 BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD -- THE EVIL OF INERTIA |
| does not mean that you should now cease praying for the specific goals that fill out the | 255 THE BIRTHING PROCESS -- COSMIC PULSE |
| Prays.......................3 | |
| do not wish to imply that everyone who prays goes to the heart of the matter. There | 36 PRAYER |
| may not only apply to the way man prays, but also to certain concepts he clings to | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| QUESTION: Not really. I've heard that when one prays over plants, they come up better than the | 129 WINNER VERSUS LOSER: INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE SELF AND CREATIVE FORCES |
| Preach......................5 | |
| knowledge. You may know perfectly well, and even preach, that you have to give love and not | 50 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE |
| not so much by what you say or preach, but by your mere being, by your emanations | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| contributes more than vast masses of people who preach doctrines, who force away the emotions, who feel | 105 HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT |
| limitation and from frozen feelings. When religious teachers preach about the importance of love, they are right | 115 PERCEPTION, DETERMINATION, LOVE AS ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS |
| one. Many movements and spiritual schools of thought preach asceticism and the denial of the outer life | 210 VISUALIZATION PROCESS FOR GROWING INTO THE UNITIVE STATE |
| Preached....................3 | |
| were proof of its badness. Thus people have preached through the centuries that the body is sinful | 149 COSMIC PULL TOWARD UNION -- FRUSTRATION |
| into you. Religion has emphasized giving. It has preached for a long time that giving love is | 155 FEAR OF SELF -- GIVING AND RECEIVING |
| rights and your human dignity. This interpretation has preached meekness and masochism that are not in keeping | 197 ENERGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN DISTORTION: EVIL |
| Precarious..................20 | |
| threatens the very ground you stand on, the precarious pseudo- safety of your idealized self-image. The healthy | 85 DISTORTIONS OF THE INSTINCTS OF SELF-PRESERVATION AND PROCREATION |
| the cause. Needless to say, that remedy is precarious. Compulsive overactivity as well as laziness and apathy | 96 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS; COMMENTS ON LAZINESS AS SYMPTOM OF SELF-ALIENATION |
| For there is a benefit, though often a precarious one. Basically, there are two different kinds of | 98 WISHFUL DAYDREAMS |
| to attain real satisfaction of your needs. The precarious pseudofulfillment is at least something, and seems so | 98 WISHFUL DAYDREAMS |
| are. However, the price you pay for this precarious order and security is so much bigger than | 99 FALSIFIED IMPRESSIONS OF PARENTS: THEIR CAUSE AND CURE |
| emotions. When they achieve a temporary state of precarious peace, they easily believe that they are on | 104 INTELLECT AND WILL AS TOOLS OR HINDRANCES OF SELF-REALIZATION |
| do its best to maintain it, often in precarious, hidden, and distorted ways. Unfortunately, emotional independence is | 113 IDENTIFICATION WITH THE SELF |
| this is not a real solution. It is precarious and can fail when something goes wrong. To | 115 PERCEPTION, DETERMINATION, LOVE AS ASPECTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS |
| idealized self-image, the pseudo-solutions, etc. Hence, the small, precarious success you had before is temporarily lessened. You | 121 DISPLACEMENT, SUBSTITUTION, SUPERIMPOSITION |
| yield peace and liberation, regardless of how much precarious temporary satisfaction it appears to give. You always | 123 LIBERATION AND PEACE BY OVERCOMING FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN |
| in. It is only through love that this precarious balance of opposite extremes is achieved. This fine | 133 LOVE: NOT A COMMANDMENT, BUT SPONTANEOUS SOUL MOVEMENT OF THE INNER SELF |
| and active cruelty is often very thin and precarious, very much dependent upon apparently outer circumstances. If | 134 THE CONCEPT OF EVIL |
| will end either in disappointment or in a precarious fulfillment that you do not know what to | 136 THE ILLUSORY FEAR OF THE SELF |
| to the cruelty. The cruelty will be your precarious pleasure. The pleasure will cease when you understand | 139 DEADENING OF THE LIVE CENTER THROUGH MISINTERPRETATION OF REALITY |
| position of not wanting to part from the precarious pleasure you derive from indulging in destructive feelings | 140 CONFLICT OF POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE ORIENTED PLEASURE AS THE ORIGIN OF PAIN |
| their integrity and may even feel a temporary, precarious sort of satisfaction when they feed the needs | 164 FURTHER ASPECTS OF POLARITY -- SELFISHNESS |
| most controlled are those whose aliveness is very precarious. You, my friends, who really want to come | 165 EVOLUTIONARY PHASES IN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REALMS OF FEELINGS, REASON, AND WILL |
| illusion of being alive. But the aliveness is precarious. It is, in the long run, not even | 191 INNER AND OUTER EXPERIENCE |
| knowing in a constructive way, finding the often precarious balance between patience and humility for the grace | 220 REAWAKENING FROM PRE-INCARNATORY ANESTHESIA |
| which you are so used to govern your precarious safety. Much greater safety comes when you have | 235 THE ANATOMY OF CONTRACTION |