HOW PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

As I mentioned, I have been reading the books of Gregg Braden. In The Divine Matrix, he describes a visit to the abbot of a Tibetan monastery, whom he asks "What connects us with one another, our world, and the universe? What is the "stuff" that carries our prayers beyond our bodies and makes a difference?" The answer he got was "compassion".

Braden then asks another question: "How can that be? Is this compassion a force of nature (like some sort of energy or magnetism), or an emotional experience?"

The answer was "Compassion is what connects all things." Braden had gone half around the world, had an intensive dialogue through an interpreter involving the deepest elements of Tibetan Buddhism (as he describes it) and that's all he got.

So he goes on quizzing the interpreter (also a monk) and asks the same question "Is compassion a force of creation or is it an experience?" And the monk thinks for a long time and then says "it is both." So finally Braden understands something about what connects us to everything in the universe, as well as the quality that makes our feelings and emotions so powerful - they are one and the same.

I believe this is what was happening when Christ performed his healing miracles; it was the power of his compassion that rearranged the molecules (or whatever) that made the blind see and the lame walk and the leprosy disappear, and in his deep compassion, he was able to do this instantly. I also think that it was his training of the disciples that allowed them to do the same – and that it explains other modern “medical miracles”.

I think Braden is right when he says that this knowledge was known to the early Christians, but "tremendous liberties were taken over the centuries with the ancient authors' words and intent" (when translating the writings into our modern day Bible). The example he gives is the “ask and ye shall receive “ passage from John 16:

“Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.”

In the Essene gospel (of Thomas?), however, there is more: "All things that you ask straightly, directly … from inside My name … you will be given. So far you haven’t done this … [here is the bit missing from John] - So ask without hidden motive and be surrounded by your answer - be enveloped by what you desire, that your gladness may be full".

I have found one other reference to prayer already being granted as we pray, and that is in Mark's gospel. Translations vary slightly, but in my Standard Revised Version, Mark 11:24 reads: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Other translations, like the American Standard Version read "Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

I am less certain that the last meaning was what was intended, because this clearly doesn't happen. I believe Christ wanted more from us when we pray than just giving him a shopping list, and I also believe that some of us are better "pray-ers" than others. If we knew how powerful we could be and were able to empty ourselves of all our personal agendas and other emotions, and fill our hearts totally with compassion, I think we could do it too.

(This reminds me of that passage by Marianne Williamson:

 "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." (A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles", Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3)

As I am writing this, I have just received Williamson’s book from Amazon. All this may be already known to many who read this, but I am learning how much I need to learn.