|
ACT to foster happiness, peace,
prosperity, and tolerance in the Middle East
|
| |
On Prayer
Then a priestess said, "Speak to us of Prayer."
And he answered, saying:
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also
in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?
And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also
for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should
spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.
When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very
hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.
Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy
and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you
shall not receive.
And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted:
Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall
not be heard.
It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.
I cannot teach you how to pray in words.
God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your
lips.
And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and the
mountains.
But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas can find
their prayer in your heart,
And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them
saying in silence,
"Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.
It is thy desire in us that desireth.
It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days
which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are
born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."
| |
Back | Home | Next
Up The Coming of the Ship On Love On Marriage On Children On Giving On Eating and Drinking On Work On Joy and Sorrow On Houses On Clothes On Buying and Selling On Crime and Punishment On Laws On Reason and Passion On Pain On Self-Knowledge On Teaching On Friendship On Talking On Time On Good and Evil On Prayer On Pleasure On Freedom On Beauty On Religion On Death The Farewell
|