Beyond Words: Exploring the Power of Prayer, Part II with Carol Wilke

[00:00:00] So tonight we are continuing our exploration into the power of prayer. Last week we talked about prayer and how it's such an inner attitude and we also talked about the science behind prayer. Tonight I want to finish our series on prayer by focusing on the aspect of prayer

[00:00:22] that is beyond words. It's interesting to note that the root word from which prayer is derived is pal-al and it's from an ancient Sanskrit word which literally means judging oneself to be wonderfully made. Once we understand this, an entire new horizon opens up to how

[00:00:45] we can think about prayer from a place of celebrating how wonderful we are and how connected and a part of the divine flow we always are. And once we understand that there's a science

[00:00:58] behind prayer and that it's an inside job, we can move into a feeling space around it. So again this third aspect of prayer that I want to talk about tonight is beyond the words.

[00:01:12] Imagine an old bucket brigade fighting a fire. Buckets of water would be filled and passed from person to person with the last person in the chain throwing the bucket of water on the fire. Imagine if these buckets weren't filled with water first and people were just passing empty

[00:01:30] buckets and then they threw the buckets of nothing on the fire. Well so it is with us. If we miss this crucial step in our prayer work of spending time on our inner life,

[00:01:43] if we don't take the time to turn inward and spending time in stillness, then we have absolutely nothing in our inner wellspring. And so by opening our hearts to the love that's already there,

[00:01:56] by expressing our willingness to let the sacred presence live through us, we take a big step into getting into a prayer mode. We'll each do this of course in our own ways, in our own unique ways, but a helpful means of preparing for our prayer experiences to

[00:02:15] simply relax the body, breathe easily and turn our intention inward. Very simple. And while there's no one secret method of prayer, the acknowledgement of the presence of God is always a meaningful way to begin. And this may take the form of words and it

[00:02:35] could be out loud or it could be in silence. Eventually however though, we move beyond words, beyond thoughts into a vaster realm of pure spirit. And it's in this absolute stillness

[00:02:51] that we simply rest in the exquisite sense of the presence of God and feel the feelings of prayer. Last week I talked about this powerful video by Greg Braden called The Five Modes of Prayer.

[00:03:04] And in this video he tells a really amazing story of a Native American rain prayer. And he said he got a call from a friend of his who was going to go out and do a prayer for rain

[00:03:20] and asked if Greg Wando accompanied him. And he said, oh my gosh, you bet, of course I do. And so Greg Braden traveled to New Mexico and he went out with this friend of his and they

[00:03:30] went out into the high desert and they walked for hours and hours until his friend came to a sacred circle that was eons old had been etched into the ground. And his friends said, I'm gonna

[00:03:47] step into this circle and do a prayer for rain. And so friends stepped into the circle. He put his hands together in a prayer mode and closed his eyes about two minutes later. He stepped out of

[00:04:03] the circle. He turned to Greg and he said, all right, gosh, I'm hungry. Let's go eat. And Greg Braden said, wait a minute, I thought you were gonna pray for rain. And his friend looked at

[00:04:13] him and said, no, I didn't pray for rain because if I were to pray for rain that would be an acknowledgement that it doesn't exist. What I did is I stood in that circle and I imagined

[00:04:28] that there was so much rain that it was just pouring over my body that my feet were full of mud because I was standing on the earth that had so much rain that it had turned to mud.

[00:04:39] I felt and smelt the rain coming off the roof of our houses in our village. And I just felt what it would feel like to stand in so much rain that I was soaking wet. That's what I did.

[00:04:56] And Greg said they went to eat and later that afternoon, they were watching the weather and sure enough it came through New Mexico and it just started pouring and they had so much rain

[00:05:08] that they didn't almost know what to do with it. And there was almost too much rain. And so Greg turned to his friend and said, gosh, there's so much rain. Do you have a way for it to stop?

[00:05:19] And he's like, yeah, that's the part of the prayer that I haven't quite figured out. But I love this story because what it illustrates to me is this power of prayer being beyond our words.

[00:05:31] Whether we realize it, accept it or even know it, we are all part of the same universe, part of something larger and more significant than our own unique personalities. Every thought we think,

[00:05:45] every action we take, every word we speak affects us and the people around us in some way and on some level. And that is what the power beyond words is, that power of feeling, of closing our eyes

[00:06:02] and feeling that powerful presence of the divine and allowing that to express and expand in our lives. I want to end this tonight with a really touching story about this connectivity and this oneness that prayer creates. And it's about Lawrence Anthony, who was a South African conservationist

[00:06:24] and he was called the elephant whisperer. He died a few years ago of a heart attack, but throughout his career, he risked his life in order to preserve elephants and their habitats

[00:06:37] from destruction. He devoted his life to living in the African bush and working with these elephants to sort of save them from human atrocity. These elephants were often killed not only by poachers, but by villagers whose crops were trampled and ruined. And so Lawrence started working with

[00:06:57] a particular herd of elephants that had been captured and fenced in and developed a process of using certain words and gestures to show this herd the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. He really worked with the matriarch of the tribe, whose name was Nanna,

[00:07:18] and eventually Lawrence was able to allow the herd to roam the reserve freely. His experiences resulted in the bestselling book called The Elephant Whisperer, My Life with the Herd in the African Wild and it was published in 2009. Anthony and his wife Francois became so close to these

[00:07:38] elephants that occasionally they'd try to set up camp in his living room when he'd have to gently usher them out. As the herd grew and Anthony's game reserve got more popular, he feared for this herd's safety and so he deliberately had the elephants keep their distance,

[00:07:56] refusing to allow them to visit his home for the last 15 months of his life. Several days after Anthony died of a heart attack, as if out of nowhere, a herd of 20 elephants arrived at his doorstep, led by Nanna and another matriarch. Several wild herds had walked over 12 miles

[00:08:19] to make the journey to his home. The family and others who photographed the elephants making their way to the house were amazed at the sight of the elephants not only because they somehow knew that Lawrence Anthony had died but also because they'd been able to remember a route

[00:08:38] that they hadn't made for over a year and a half. But perhaps the most astonishing aspect of this funeral procession was its demeanor. As soon as Lawrence died, these elephants began a slow and solemn single file procession from their wild habitat to his home

[00:08:59] and after circling the home for two days and two nights they turned to make their journey home. I find this story extraordinary because how did this herd at a distance of 12 miles know that Lawrence Anthony had died? And I love this story because it seems to be evidence

[00:09:21] that there is a great deal of information and consciousness that lies beyond our senses and that is accessible to all creatures including us humans when we can tap into it and when we stop long enough to listen. It's also a powerful demonstration that the fact that

[00:09:43] love speaks a language that is beyond time or space or species and that there is a field of consciousness so vast and so connective that it's truly astonishing. This to me is the power

[00:09:59] of prayer to realize that prayer is an inside job. It's knowing that we are wonderfully made in the image of the divine and that we can become still to know the truth of who we are to be reminded

[00:10:15] of that beautiful truth. We can understand on an intellectual level that there is a science behind prayer but when we can move into a feeling place we tap into the true power of prayer. Life is an endless journey filled with experiences of self-discovery, peace and faith. Like the

[00:10:36] Australian Aborigines and like the African elephants we are all connected on this journey, this beautiful songline of our journey and we are united in a sacred circle of life in which we can realize the abundant and infinite blessings of God through the power

[00:10:56] of prayer. And so I'm going to ask you just to close your eyes as we move into prayer and I'm going to begin our moment of prayer with this beautiful quote by Myrtle Fillmore.

[00:11:10] Be still, be still, be still. God in the midst of you is substance. God in the midst of you is love. God in the midst of you is wisdom. Let not your thoughts be given to lack but let wisdom

[00:11:30] fill them with the substance and faith of God. Let not your heart be a center of resentment and fear and doubt. Realize that only good exists in you and in your world, that the power you

[00:11:43] contact in the silence has the opportunity to multiply and increase your blessings. Give thanks that you have already received the good for which you look to God in the silence, feeling the assurance.

[00:11:58] And so we rest in that knowingness and that deep recognition of the power of the presence of God knowing that as it moves in through and around us we are reminded of the word pal-el

[00:12:14] that we are wonderfully made in the image of the divine, that we are unique beautiful expressions, that all is well, that we are perfect whole and complete and that we simply rest in this connection of spirit. Opening our hearts, opening our minds in this stillness allowing

[00:12:44] ourselves to feel the feelings of peace, of abundance, of love, of joy, of wholeness, of health. We give thanks for the powerful presence of God, for the power of prayer, for the unfolding of peace not only in our lives but in our world, knowing that

[00:13:16] as we feel those feelings of peace they emanate into the wider world around us. And so we give great thanks for that, just moving into a space of gratitude as we give thanks for all of the many blessings in our lives, giving thanks for the great joy

[00:13:41] of being alive. And I know that as I release these words, this prayer, these truths into that beautiful alchemy of love and law, that all is well because all is God and so it is. Amen.