Take Away The Stone: Resurrecting the God Within — “Teach Us to Pray”
The introduction, and Parts I, II, and III of this series are available here, here, here, and here.
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:23–24
Jesus, in those powerfully clear lines, gives us the essence of affirmative prayer. Stripped of all superstition, mystery, ritual,and dogma, it is the harmonious interplay of the conscious and subconscious minds, as we explored in the previous piece. Contrary to what we may have been taught or as it is perceived in wider society, prayer is both an art and science, established on sound and tested formulas rooted in empirical experience. Further, it is the purest form of equality: Successful prayer is not predicated upon whether you attend a certain church, profess a particular creed, or belong to a “chosen” race, ethnicity, gender, or political/social group. God or the Life Principle is devoid of partisanship. It heals saint and sinner alike; assimilates the food of both the devout Christian and avowed atheist, and regulates the breathing of all whether they live in America, Russia, or China. It “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” alike.(Matthew 5:45)
Affirmative prayer is also, as Jesus stated, not an act of begging and beseeching a distant God to grant our desires, or painstakingly devising complicated plans on how to bring our desire about. It isn’t a matter of trying to convince or persuade the Infinite to, as it were, see things our way; the onus is on us to lift our level of awareness to the fact that what we are seeking already is, in a greater field of potentiality — whether it be greater health, love, abundance, expression, service, creativity, or opportunity, and that it is the pleasure of the Infinite to give Its progeny nothing but the choicest goods of the Kingdom of Plenty.
How are we to key into this “higher plane” of possibility? By, as one great teacher put it, subjectively appropriating the objective hope. In other words, we cultivate and assume the feeling that the thing we are praying for is already ours, and to rest assured in a feeling of gratitude, knowing that what we have prayed for will come to pass. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)
Like Daniel in the Old Testament story we must turn away from the lions, which symbolize our current concepts of limitation and privation, and keep our vision fixed upon our ideal; trusting the Infinite Intelligence in our subconscious mind knows what our needs are before we ask and will, “in ways we know not of”, bring about the means by which our desire will be realized. Our task then is to control and train our conscious minds to entertain constructive thoughts and imagery regarding our desire, which will take root in the subconscious mind and be expressed accordingly.
Sound too good to be true? Yes, I concur that on first hearing such notions of “wishful thinking” sound Pollyannish and lacking in substance. And, with all due respect, some popularly disseminated presentations of the so-called Law of Attraction put across mind metaphysics in a overly simplified manner, often ending in the following scenario. Many people, gripped by the idea that “thoughts are things”, will begin affirming and visualizing, with expectation of immediate results. When said results are slow in coming — the soul mate doesn’t show up at the door immediately, the winning lottery ticket doesn’t drop into our lap, or the convertible isn’t sitting in the driveway the following morning — doubt sets in.
The student, as quickly as they started, gives up hope and labels the whole business a bunch of fairy tale BS. While some would argue this is symptomatic of the modern mind set of instant gratification, the truth is that our subconscious programming — conditioned over the course of our lives — won’t be dissolved by a few minutes’ worth of affirmations.
In keeping with the analogy of a garden, before we can sow a new round of life affirming seeds (conscious thoughts, emotions, and concepts) the plot of the subconscious must be cleared of the weeds born from our embedded negative psychological patterns. If we scatter new seeds in untreated soil, the weeds and brambles of our preexisting complexes will squeeze the life from them, as Jesus alluded to in his Parable of the Sower: “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.” Mark 4:7; see also Matthew 13:1–23 and Luke 8:1–15
A quick aside before we examine this reconditioning process — There are some self-development/metaphysical writers who assert that such a method of intensive belief overhaul is both unnecessary and impractical for achieving results. While I greatly respect these writers and their teachings, I have found that any attempts at making sustainable mental, emotional, and spiritual changes without an influx of new beliefs and perceptions ultimately leads to a dead end. We’ve all witnessed and experienced this in some form, perhaps most prominently when it comes to implementing a new diet or fitness regimen: We catch the initial spark of enthusiasm, go at it like gang-busters for the first few weeks with sheer force of will, before petering out and back to our old ways.
The truth is, no matter how strong our will may be, it is our underlying ideas, beliefs, and mental pictures (for example, “Vegetables taste disgusting, I hate running, I feel too sore to workout today,” etc.) that compulsively steer our behaviors. The late French hypnotherapist Émile Coué (1857–1926) observed, “When the imagination (containing the mental picture of our belief)and willpower are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.” And as Dr. Georgianna Donadio, Program Director of the National Institute of Whole Health, nationally recognized health educator, researcher, podcast host, and # 1 best-selling author, succinctly puts it, “You can’t change old behavior without new information.” With all of that said, let’s proceed.
The first step is a deep, thoughtful process of self-analysis of the narratives we were led to accept as gospel in our impressionable years. We must hold them up to the light of reason. Do they have bearing in truth? Are they reasonable and logical? If they are the chaff of ignorance, prejudice, or fear, they must be consigned to the fire. Now, as I know well from personal experience, this is much easier said than done. Old habits — and the psychological imprints which animate them — die hard and fitfully, with all manner of rationalizations, resistances, and emotional blocks rising to meet our efforts.
This a trying experience, as our behavioral responses to Life have been shaped through years of negative inner dialogue and faulty perceptions. Like the Israelites in the wilderness our embedded concepts will grumble and rebel against the introduction of new concepts, echoing their old refrains with increasing hostility. You’ll never be good enough; Life has it in for you; There’s not enough money to go around; What’s the use in trying, no one cares; The world’s going to hell in a hand-basket; You’re a miserable sinner; If you do that you’ll burn in hell.
A parallel can be found in the Jungian concept of illuminating the “Shadow”, that primal aspect of the subconscious containing our deepest complexes (some Jungian theorists also equate it with the old mythological realm of the Underworld). Through venturing forth into the nightmare landscape of our fears, anxieties, and destructive beliefs and acknowledging them, we can then rob them of their power, directing their psychic energy away from destructive patterns toward constructive ones. It is only through this deliberate descent into the abyss the Self that we can affect genuine change, otherwise we shall “die in our sins”. [1] In other words, we will remain chained to our dream killing complexes. This is the metaphysical truth of the Apostle’s Creed: “I believe… in Jesus Christ (Illumined Reason) who… descended into Hell (the un-illumined subconscious)” before the Resurrection, or manifestation, of our new consciousness. As Jung wrote, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
This is not a case of merely “thinking positive” and having everything dissolve into thin air. It is full scale repentance as Jesus taught it; not repentance in its traditional theological association with groveling and keening, but in its true essence from the original Greek term metanoia: a radical change of heart, mind, and living. The process can be trying, as if everything we knew is falling to pieces all around us, as is so vividly portrayed in Jesus’ agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Hence why we are told to “pray continually”, reinforcing our new beliefs, knowing that through persistence the old shall be transformed into the new:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43: 18–19
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self… to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4: 22–24
With that said the exact means utilized to achieve “Shadow” illumination, repentance, mental renewal, etc. will be unique to each individual’s particular psychological and emotional circumstances. There will be some who can do it on their own, while others may need to avail themselves of an experienced counselor or therapist. This is not, contrary to what some may say, a sign of weakness, inability, or not being “spiritual” enough. No one is an island; the notion of enduring personal turmoil in stoic suffering silence should be consigned to the junk pile of antiquated nonsense.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22
Once, by whatever means we end up utilizing, the choke hold of the old patterns from the subconscious has been removed we can then begin to prepare, through the affirmative prayer formula, for a harvest according to new patterns of love, abundance, peace, joy, and success.
First we must have a clearly defined picture of our desired aim. Of course, this will vary from person to person: some will be seeking romance or companionship; others will be desirous of greater financial security or more vibrant health, while yet others will want greater avenues of creative expression or altruistic service. Regardless, it must be firmly established in our mind’s eye, otherwise we’ll bat around a slew of competing ideas, potentially being derailed. Jesus emphasized this point of clarity repeatedly throughout the Gospels, when he would ask those who came to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
With our aim in place we can start to appropriate the emotional feeling of our achieved desire. Then, entering the “closet” of our stilled and quiet mind we begin to cultivate that sense of accomplishment, feeling it to be a reality at the very moment of prayer. While our time and spatial oriented consciousness may initially balk at the idea, we must remember we are dealing with a boundless Power, which though immanent in time and space is also transcendent of it. If it was hindered by its own constructs, then it wouldn’t be Infinite and Omnipresent. The object of our desire stands at the ready, waiting for us to adjust our vision and acknowledge it. “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35
A strong emotional attachment to our ideal can’t be emphasized enough. This can be difficult for a great many of us to achieve due to early social conditioning and inhibitions, but unless the vision of our aim is not injected with the fuel of concentrated emotion it remains an empty shell of a concept. Like the sexual act, it is equally dependent on sensation and animating emotion to achieve conception. This is why, as we’ve learned, the ancients aptly compared the joining of thought and emotion as a union between male and female.
The means of “impregnating” the subconscious will vary, depending on the individual. Many people have vivid imaginations and are able to effortlessly construct a brief and concise mental picture of a scene implying the accomplishment of their desire, assigning it all the sensual tones of reality. If one’s desire was, for example, healing from illness they could imagine a dialogue with their healthcare provider in their office, receiving the good news of their clean bill of health. Incorporating all five senses (i.e. feeling the touch of the chair or examination bench, seeing the practitioner’s credentials hung up on the wall behind their desk, etc.) they would catch the feeling of what it would be like were they completely healed of their ailment. The scene is to be played over and over again until the point of saturation is reached, not letting the mind wander onto any other track. This, unlike idle daydreaming, requires developing a practice of disciplined, controlled visualization, a model which has been utilized by successful athletes, actors,and business people, among a host of others. [2]
If crafting mental movies doesn’t come easily, affirmations and mantras can be substituted, which can stir the emotions and are worded in the present tense. For example,“I am whole, perfect, healthy, and strong”; “I have a large, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit”; “I now identify with the traits of my ideal lover/friend/companion, with whom I blend perfectly. I love their ideals and they love my ideals; I have no desire to make them over and vice versa”; “Infinite Intelligence inspires me with new ways to serve humanity and the planet”.
These must be stated in a spirit of conviction, not in the manner of empty vain repetition. For those who enjoy Scripture reading the Psalms (the 23rd, 27th, 91st, and 121st just to name a few) can have a similar effect. These and any other methods (meditation, self-hypnosis, creative journaling, etc.) are ultimately a matter of personal preference, as long as the method employed generates that all important emotional movement.
Another effective method is to, in those deliciously relaxed minutes between sleep and wakefulness, either condense the desire into a simple phrase (such as “Thank you” or “It is done”) and recite it as a lullaby while drifting into the deep of sleep, or to play the scene of your mental movie over and over again. In this state (called hypnagogia by sleep researchers) the conscious mind is in abeyance, reducing effort to a minimum as we tap the creative faculties of the subconscious. [3]
It may be asked how long we should pray for. It again depends on the individual and the nature of their desire. Some people are able to attain the state of intellectual and emotional union very quickly, planting the seed in their subconscious. For others it may take several attempts, especially if the desire in question is something that seems particularly daunting. For example: we desire a new car, fresh off the dealer’s lot. As our financial circumstances stand at present we have no visible means of acquiring it, and our conscious mind simply can’t see how we could get it short of the usual channels of income.
Knowing that the key is to think from the end of our desire, rather than simply of it (thereby implying it is unfilled), we can begin our chosen manifesting practice. If going the visualization route we can conjure in our mind’s eye the scene of being behind the wheel of our chosen car, utilizing our imaginative senses to capture the reality of it: the grip of our hands on the steering wheel, the smell of the cleaned upholstery and interior, the sound of the radio, etc, all with the feeling that the car is ours, owned outright. Or we could utilize an affirmation such as “That car is for sale, and it is mine in Divine Order.” This should be done as many times as necessary, always in a mood of soothing reassurance, until the doubt of the conscious mind is transmuted through emotional alchemy into quiet confidence. To make our practice more effective, we can utilize either method in the hypnagogic state, as mentioned above.
Whether it takes us more or less time in prayer, we will ultimately reach a fever pitch, where we are overtaken with sheer joy in the fact that “it is finished”, our thought and feeling having been joined. In keeping with the analogy of the sexual act it is comparable to an orgasm, with a feeling of tremendous satisfaction followed by great relief. Having appropriated your desire you no longer feel the need to pray about it and go your way, knowing that Infinite Intelligence will set in motion the means for it to be manifested.
All the while we must remain resolute, knowing that doubt will be rapping at the door. That is why we are counseled to tell no one of what we have accomplished in the secret place of prayer. “Wait a second MacCormack,” you may think, “Didn’t you say earlier we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to people?” Absolutely, within the above mentioned context of seeking to alleviate mental or emotional tension. But, once we have successfully applied the affirmative prayer method and are confident in the conception of our desire, it is best to keep our own counsels. Our loved ones, friends, and associates, from a place of good intention, will more often than not drown us with a flood of facts regarding the “impractical” nature of our aim, their negative suggestions serving to undermine our faith.
For this reason Jesus stressed the importance of keeping the “eye single” and disregarding all appearances, opinions, and judgments that are in conflict with the vision of our fulfilled desire. This may sound like flat out denial of our circumstances, but it is simply the redirection of our attention from material effects to the underlying spiritual cause behind them. If we don’t press on in consciousness toward the mark of our fulfilled desire we will return to our old state of lack like Lot’s wife, who in looking back on the city of Sodom was transformed into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19: 26). Or we’ll be like the Greek hero Orpheus, who after reclaiming his love Eurydice from the Underworld, out of anxiety turned round to look upon her as they ascended back to Earth, only to see her disappear back into the gloom.
Some will ask, “Should we initiate any action toward bringing our desire about after we’ve prayed?” As stated previously, successful prayer is followed by a feeling of profound satisfaction that we have impregnated the subconscious mind with our request. Just as a farmer or gardener wouldn’t dig up seeds ten minutes after they’ve planted them to see if they’re growing, trusting Nature to do her work, we must do likewise with the outcome we’ve sown in the womb of Sophia, the goddess representing the wisdom of the subconscious. If we anxiously wring our hands or pace around, wracking our minds concerning the fine details of how exactly our answer will come, then we’re effectively digging up the seed of our appropriated desire. Having done our part in prayer we peacefully go about our business, leaving the precise machinery of Universal Law to its work as we confidently wait.
“For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3
This surrender of the personal will to the higher capabilities of the Infinite was also wonderfully expressed by Lao Tzu, the Taoist sage:
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.” Tao Te Ching, Chapter 48
In due time, we will receive some prompt to begin our journey over the bridge of events leading to the physical manifestation of our desire. It may be in the form of a hunch, a lingering feeling, or sudden inspiration to take a course of action not previously considered. It could be an out of the blue phone call, text, or email from a loved one, friend, or acquaintance providing us with a solution, or the urge to reach out to a particular person.
When it comes to our desire for a car, the possibilities are many: we could be walking or driving past a convenience store that normally wouldn’t warrant a second look and be struck with the pronounced urge to buy a lottery ticket, the winning amount of which allows us to purchase the car. We could receive an unexpected inheritance or financial gift from a parent or relative, a surprise raise at work, be led to participate in a contest or an auction, etc. These are just some of the many avenues we could take to reach the answer of our prayer, which the anxious and frenetic conscious mind alone couldn’t devise or foresee. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Isaiah 55:8
The still small voice always imparts its message to us in peace, never discord, and once upon receiving it we march forward in faithful confidence into the Promised Land of our ideal made real.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
“But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13
Footnotes:
- “Carl Jung and the Shadow”, Academy of Ideas, December 17th, 2015 https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/carl-jung-and-the-shadow-the-hidden-power-of-our-dark-side/
- AJ Adams, “Seeing Is Believing: The Power of Visualization” Psychology Today, December 3rd, 2009 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization
- Carolyn Gregoire, “Hypnagogia, The State Between Sleep And Wakefulness, Is Key To Creativity” Huffington Post, Feburary 22nd, 2016 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hypnogogia-dreams-creativity_us_56c5d16ce4b0c3c55053de38
