Mystics at Prayers by DR. H. SPENCER LEWIS, F. R. C.

An examination of the prayers which appear on the following pages reveals the fact that the great mystics of all ages understood the real processes of prayer and knew how to pray.
Christians have the beautiful example of the prayer given to them by Jesus, the Christ, as a stand-ard; and it is a most beautiful standard. But, long before the Christian era, the Mystics, the Ava-tars, and those through whom the Light of God shone among men, knew by divine inspiration how to pray. Examples of their prayers contained in these pages prove this fact.
The Mystic and those who were touched with the Light of Cosmic Consciousness had a very defi-nite understanding of the processes of prayer. In the Western World today millions of persons have digressed very greatly from these processes, and, making their prayers long and filled with personal petitions, are often disappointed with the seeming lack of efficacy in their prayers or the inefficacy of praying. It may be permissible, therefore, briefly to outline or review true processes of prayer as understood by the Mystics.
According to the mystical view-point, praying to God is based upon the conviction that God is om-nipotent in power, present everywhere, and willing to listen to our sincere petitions. This is all that we should have in mind when praying. The average person in praying, however, has in mind some assumptions which mislead him in wording his prayers, and in approaching the very atti-tude of prayer. He assumes that God is not only omnipotent in power, omnipresent, and merciful, but that with all of His power, with all of His intelligence, with all of His mastership and control throughout the world, and with all His attunement with the beings which He created, He is, nev-ertheless, ignorant of our wants and needs, and completely unacquainted with what we require in life in order to live abundantly and secure our everyday necessities. Very often, the prayerful peti-tioner also assumes that God has given no thought to the outcome of certain contests in life or struggles between various factions of human beings, and is incapable of justly deciding such con-tests or awarding the victory to the right side. These false assumptions are responsible for the mistakes that are made in prayer and for the failure of prayers to be highly efficacious.
To go into prayer with the idea or belief that God does not know what we need or even what we want, or what is best for us, and that we must advise Him, argue with Him, stress our view-point and convince Him, or at least urge Him, to adopt our ideas and decisions and grant what we plead for, is to make the most serious mistake in the process of praying.
In the first place, the process of prayer is a transcendent method of communion with God. If is the most intimate, personal contact that human beings can make with their Father, the Creator of all beings. This sublime period of communion should be approached with clean thoughts, but most of all with a clear understanding of our privileges and a total absence of any feeling that we have any right to petition God to grant our wishes.
The Mystics know, also, that true prayer is based upon a Cosmic and Spiritual law. That law is this: "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." The ancient mystical injunc-tion was that you must ask in order to receive, that you must proffer your hand in order to have the token given unto you, that you must express your desire before it will be answered. In all mystical processes, the expression of a sincere wish or desire, opens wide the doorway to the reception of spiritual blessings. The asking in sincerity and the reverential expression of such wishes attunes the person with the one who has the power to give and, unless there is a meeting of the minds and a meeting of the consciousness of both persons, there can neither be attunement nor the passing from one to the other of the spiritual things desired. To the Mystic, therefore, prayer is a meeting of the minds. It is not an occasion for personal petitioning, but for spiritual communion. It is a time when the soul within us and the deepest and most inner parts of our being sacredly, sincere-ly, and quietly speak to God and express the deepest wishes of our hearts and minds. The belief, therefore, that our human conception of our needs must be outlined in minutest detail and ex-pressed in great elaboration is also a misconception, since the thoughts moving us to prayer are easily transmitted to the divine consciousness during this communion, and the lips need only speak the fewest words of appreciation and thankfulness.
Prayers should not consist of a categorical representation of details or a long list of the things that we feel we want, but merely an expression of a desire for divine blessings. Have we any right to come before God in this privileged period of communion and demand, or even plead, that long life be given to us because we desire it and have come to the conclusion that it is the thing we should have? Is that not an indication that we have concluded that God may not have thought about our lives or may have ordained otherwise, or differently, and that we hope to change His mind or set aside His wise decree because of our petition? Have we any right to come before the Creator of all, and say that we want this, that, or the other thing in a manner which intimates that we have out-lined and decided upon such things as being our judgment of what is best for us?
If we lived in a great kingdom under a most just and merciful king, and were enjoying every bene-diction and blessing that the king could bestow upon the multitudes who fived under him, and we were notified that we had the extraordinary privilege of coming before this king in personal com-munion, and during this communion we might express our great desires in some form of prayerful petition, would we not hesitate for a long time in formulating our desires and arranging the ex-pressions we would use? Undoubtedly, when the moment came to face the Icing and be permitted to open our lips and speak any words at all, we would first utter some words of profound thankful-ness for the blessings we had enjoyed, and humbly add that if it pleased the king, we would be happy to continue enjoying the same blessings or possibly a few more. Not one of us would think of attempting to petition this king to grant us a long list of material things, nor ask him to give us victory over others, or to make any exception in the universal standard of living, that we might rise above all our fellow men in the kingdom; nor would we ask for many of the things that were most desired. We would be so happy in the fact that the king had granted us the privilege of commun-ion that we would be moved to an attitude of thankfulness and an expression of appreciation for what we had, rather than entering into a demand for many other things.
How many go into prayer or come before the consciousness of God in Holy Communion in this attitude? How many cleanse their hands of debt by first thanking God for each individual blessing throughout the day? How many approach God in prayer in an attitude of profound appreciation for the very life and consciousness which animates their beings? After all, is not the gift of life the greatest blessing that God can give, and if we have it, have we not that which is greater than any-thing else we may desire? To ask for other things than life or to petition for anything other than the consciousness of God in our beings is to lift lesser things and insignificant things above the great-est.
From the mystical point of view, our prayers should be expressions of desires for a continuation of the benedictions God has already granted, and which He, in His supreme wisdom, has seen fit to bestow upon us. Ever uppermost in our minds should be the thought that, "Thy will, not mine be done." The simple expression of, "May it please the Father of us all that health may return to my body," is a more concise, honest, and worthy petition than one that demands or suggests that God change the law now in operation in our bodies, and set aside certain specific conditions and estab-lish others, simply because this is the conclusion that we have reached, and is our greatest desire at the moment. A prayer for victory should not be asked by the vainglorious one who has reached the conclusion that he, above all others, should be the victorious one in a contest, and that God has made no decision and is waiting for man to present his conclusion.
By examining the prayers we will find that the Mystics always assumed that whatever might be their lot in life, and however the state of their health or the condition of the circumstances sur-rounding them, be they ill or fortunate, all things proceeded from God and were ordained by Him and, therefore, were just and in accordance with some law or some principle, merciful, and neces-sary to human experience. The fact that man in his finite and undeveloped understanding could not comprehend the reason for these experiences, or believe them to be wrong, unnecessary, or undesirable, does not warrant man in coming before God in the Holy Communion of prayer with the conclusion that his finite and undeveloped understanding is correct, and that God is in error or in ignorance of the conditions and needs to be advised and petitioned to make certain changes or to recall or undo His decrees.
As we shall see in the following pages the Mystics approached God with the attitude that whatever was their lot in life would be gladly and silently accepted, and all pains and sufferings endured, if it be the will of God. We find in many of these prayers the thought expressed that even the suffer-ings and trials, and the tribulations in life, were appreciated since they were unquestionably the result of God’s plan being worked out in the individual for some ultimate purpose unquestionably good and profitable.
The fact that we are not surrounded by any restrictions in regard to prayer and that God has given us the consciousness and ability, as well as the privilege, of approaching Him in Holy Communion and of attuning ourselves with Him at any hour of the day or any moment in our lives, is in itself a divine gift or concession that the Mystics valued above all things. Therefore, prayer was ap-proached with thankfulness in every sense, and the first expression uttered by the lips was words of appreciation and thanks.
Learn how to pray, and make prayer the real pleasure of your life, for it brings you in closer contact with the great Ruler of the universe than you can ever approach Him while living on this earthly plane of existence. Make your Holy Communions frequent. Thank God for the breath of life and the return of consciousness when you arise in the morning. Silently thank Him for every morsel of food at meal-time. Express your appreciation for every pleasure, every worldly gift, every moment of happiness, and every rich reward of your efforts or the efforts of others. A t the close of day, enter into Holy Communion of prayer and express your faith and trust in His divine guidance of your soul and consciousness throughout the night, and again be thankful for the day and all the oppor-tunities it contained to carry out your desires and ambitions, and to enjoy the divine blessings. Make prayer the transcendental and sublime pleasure of your inner self— more important, more enjoyable, more uplifting and benefiting to your entire being than any other of your earthly experiences.