The mystery of praying
According to the ancient and holy account the pupils of the wise carpenter, the exalted ‘Rabbi’ from Nazareth, are said to have once come to him with the request:
“Lord, teach us to pray!”
Upon which, – so the ancient record tells us, – the teacher of life, who was one with God, instructed them to cease from babbling traditional long litanies in the manner of those who know not. Instead of this, they were to use those wondrously beautiful, simple words which are now found on the lips of all those who profess, in whatever form of creed, or claim to profess, the love-filled teaching of that sublimely great man of God.
Nevertheless, till this day only very few really know how to ‘pray’; even rarer is the one who has comprehended the meaning of ‘praying’ in that sublime and holy way the great Man of Love wanted to be followed. – –
One may well be acquainted with the words which he, according to the ancient account, instructed his pupils to use, – yet these words too are now ‘babbled’ no differently than previously other prayers which he not particularly valued. –
The desecration is no less when they are spoken in most unctuous tones; indeed, even reverential sensitivity towards their meaning disclosed through thought does not make in any way convert the recital of those magnificent words a genuine ‘prayer’. – – –
And so it appears to have become necessary once more to teach what real ‘prayer’ truly is, – to teach how a ‘prayer’ can emerge from words of human language, and what deep secret hides in prayer!
The sacred priestly art of creating ‘prayers’ and of really “praying” has almost been completely lost today. Where it is still practised in some form or other, it is done so mechanically, stripped of all life, or superstitiously. –
But even where one thinks one is still praying, one can only see in that prayer a plea to the Godhead, an expression of thanks, or praise. Although all these elements may be found in a prayer, by no means do they make up the essence of the prayer. – –
One no longer knows that even a structure of the most wonderful words of praise, thanks or beseeching must first be genuinely ‘prayed’ before it can become ‘prayer’. –
That ‘God’ can only be attained for us in ourselves, – that only in our innermost being can the heart of pure eternal being give ‘birth anew’ to itself in endlessly varied, individual self-propagation: – this is the primary indispensible insight which all who would truly learn to ‘pray’ must finally make up their mind! –
Yet at the same time he must know that the original eternal ‘Father’, – whatever interpretation the believer chooses to put upon this word, – demands neither thanks nor praise in the human sense, – and that it would be blasphemous to really believe that the heart of being expects human supplication before it eventually allows itself to ‘soften’ by this ‘beseeching’, – for ‘asking’ in the sense of true prayer is indeed something essentially different from the begging with which so many appear before the ‘God’ of their imagination. – –
I emphasise here the term ‘God’ of the imagination, since unfortunately the vast majority of people get no further than the picture created by the power of their imagination, believing from insufficient or erroneous teaching that the way to God should lead always upwards and especially always outwards. –
However, in this way they can never feel the living Godhead, since they do not seek where the living God would only be attainable to them. – –
Yet, according to the ancient account it was also said:
“Seek, and you shall find!”
“Ask, and you shall receive!”
“Knock, and it will be opened unto you!”
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Let us tarry awhile here and persevere in all stillness until the mystery that is contained in these words reveals itself to our inner eye…
In the meantime I shall seek to show in words those things that can be shown!
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‘Seeking’ can surely only lead to ‘finding’ if seeking takes place where what is sought actually lies concealed! –
‘Asking’, in the sense meant here, which completely excludes all ‘begging’, will only be able to bring about receiving if he who asks is entitled to receive! –
‘Knocking’, however, in order to be let into the house, can only succeed if he who knocks is also completely certain of the door he knocks at, and knows how to knock in such a way that he will be admitted into the house, being recognised straightaway as one who can expect to be admitted! –
However, we must not separate here ‘seeking’, ‘asking’ and ‘knocking’ in any way from each other, for only in oneness do they result in – ‘prayer’! –
Blessed is he who can pray in this way!
He will be heard while still ‘knocking’!
He will straightaway ‘receive’ while he still ‘asks’!
He will in all certainty ‘find’ what he ‘seeks’ in such a way that it can be found!
In his innermost being he who prays will experience what the great Master’s words meant when he once said to those he considered sufficiently prepared:
“Whatever you ask the ‘Father’ for in my name, he will give unto you!”
Radiantly will be revealed to those who pray the meaning of the words of praise:
“Hallowed be thy name!” – and they will finally know why the Master once taught to ask in his ‘name’, for:
“Everything the Father has is mine!”
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Thus those who pray in this way will also know in the clearest light of the spirit that ‘whatever’ one can ask of the ‘Father’ in the ‘name’ of his self-revelation is already given and offered from all eternity, though requiring the act of ‘asking’ in order to take on a temporal ‘manifestation’, – in order to bring about a temporal perception…
Yet no one will learn to ‘pray’ in such a way except those who are able to unite their own will completely with the will of the ‘Father’! –
For those, however, who then know how to ‘pray’, being at one with the eternal ‘Father’s’ will, all their asking, – whatever they ask for – will be asking for ‘wings’: – for those wings which will indeed “carry them higher than the pinions of an eagle”!