Three Points on Prayer

Excerpted from my eBook, A Handbook for the Spiritual Journey II available from Amazon Kindle with an internet search for “Jim Dollar Kindle”

1.

Prayer is invalidated

by its very premise

and its posture as being

driven by the profit motive

and its interest in maximum benefit

at minimum cost.

Absolute gain with nothing ventured at all.

Prayer purports to be a bargain

wherein we offer faithful obedience,

filial devotion and unwavering allegiance

throughout eternity 

in return for whatever we want at the moment.

A new puppy, perhaps.

Or a shiny red convertible.

It’s always something.

Something we want badly in return for

something we will gladly do in return.

It is corrupt from the start.

We are standing before the Mob Boss

asking for favors, hat in hand, eyes on the floor,

with nothing to put forth as collateral 

and only our word as a tool of persuasion.

It is ridiculous.

Who came up with this as a worthy strategy

for guaranteeing our future

and smoothing our way?

“Tell God you will never cuss again

and you’ll pass the test without studying at all!”

Even I can spot the absurdity at work in this hokum.

2.

We redeem prayer when we think of it as the matrix forming the grounding foundation of our life, orienting us, forming, shaping us, guiding, directing us, and serving to comfort and console us all along the way.

Prayer is our connection with the source and goal of life. But it has nothing to do with asking and receiving. It is solely concerned with “peaceful abiding, here, now” (The Buddha) and where we go from there.

3.

You might not call it “prayer” when I drop out of the here, now and drop into emptiness, stillness, silence (one thing, not three) and wait for what meets me there to arise, emerge, become present with me with some psychic urgency, or some inner drift of soul, or some intuitive sense of what’s what and what’s called for creating an internal communion serving as guidance and direction for the here, now of my life–but “prayer” fits what I am doing to a “tee.” It is a back-and-forth flow of life and power on a spiritual level, guiding and directing me along the Way of the Tao, sometimes referred to as “the Way of God.” Where that line lies no one knows and who cares when it works for guidance and direction?

Often I encounter an idea there that compels me to rise up and write it down before it is “lost and gone forever” along with someone’s Darlin’ Clementine.

Making myself available to the emptiness several times a day and quite often at night, has become a grounding, steadying, and pleasant, helpful way to spend the time—reassuring me that I am not alone, but well-equipped to deal with whatever comes up and calls me to do what needs to be done, when where and how it needs to be done, around the clock and in and all weather conditions, in the company of That Which Is With Me Always, To The End Of The Age.