“nothingness; I would describe it as

AS I get older, 1 believe
more and more. in the power
of prayer.

(don't attach any particular
religion to it. That is. f don’t think
it matters if you pray to God,
Gaia, Allah or the Buddha.

The chances of your prayers
being “answered” are probably
about the same, It's perfectly pos-.

» sible, in my view, that you could .”

pray to virtually any god of your
imaginings. and get about the
~ Same response ratio.

* This is because the energy you
bring i into focus when you pray
comes from within, not from with-
“out. That is, the source of divinity
is something deep-within every
person, deep within the fabric of
“nature, of the universe itself.

» Years ago, when I was into... |
‘exotic exercises like yoga I. stum-

...bled once, probably due to lack of

XY REN, across a space | came. tos
hink of as the Clear Light. °”
:. That is, | seemed to be-in the

midst of infinity, and it was a
brightly lit place, although not fea-

turing any Particular color. ,

It wasn’t until some.time after
this experience that I read in The
Tibetan Book of The Dead about

- the Clear Light, which the
: -Buddhists describe as the Inner

Lights o> ;
It makes sense to me that this is

: the field of undifferentiated energy

that'physicists.tell us all matter,
and therefore ultimately all
‘thought, emerges mysteriously,
‘and breaks back down into in the
end. oe

If that’s the case, | see nothing

to fear from dying. It is my. belief,

Ithough certainly, there’s nothing:
Lcan point to except my own:
memory of this awesome place, :
that it was from the Clear Light
that J being emerged, and it is 10
the Clear Light that I will return,
“1, Instead of it being oblivion or

everythingness. And instead of it
being an absence of life, 1 think of

-jt.as the essence of life. Instead of °

zero, all. ,,

= How does this relate to ‘the
question of prayer?

‘Well, somehow, in the process

of praying I think you s set up’ a

parent's drinking ‘or. dru
is tion group will help y
in ‘relationships, parenting and the workpla
i t fami

chericall

45 Clyde: Avenue, We:
(Opposite the Park Ro} al H

strictly
personal

‘conduit, as it were, between the
internal and external universes,
almost like an eleciric current.
And if you do it properly, and the

circumstances are right, some kind ©

of bridge between inner and outer
worlds flashes into existence, and
the outer world is affected some-
how, -
te ¥ aH :
Somehow” is a pretty vague

- word, but I’m not pretending to

understand how this happens, or
why, or how. ['m just saying that it
does, Not all the time. Maybe not
even half the time or a quarter of
the time.

It may be that some people's
prayers may only be answered a
handful of times in their lives,
‘whereas others merely have to
begin to phrase a thought about
their needs and whatever it is they
were going to ask for comes flying
through the window.

Circumstance is a big factor.
Your own state of mind ts a bigger
factor. If you are in a high, clear,
focused mental condition, with . -
good intentions and maybe some -
motivation beyond taking care of
: your own butt, the chances of the
prayer working i increase exponen-
tially.

E suspect that prayers work best
‘when they are aimed at the well-
being of others. Prayers that are

‘merely self-interested are probably .

among those least likely to be
answered.

As I’ve said before, I’m a born-
again something. I’m just not sure
what., j-”

That there is some primal guid-
ing force behind the physical reali-

se upset you as a child?

e'can'be traced to childhood.

to understand how, difficulties

ly of Ume and spice must be obvi-
ous {0 everyone except the person
whose religion is hard-core funda-
mentalist atheism,

I don't buy into the argument
that the universe is so enormous
that, even if there was a God,
He/She/it would be too busy man-
aging imetgalactic affairs to pay
any attention to the pleadings of a
mere hummus on one tiny planet.

The vastness of space is an illu-
sion.

If you look inward rather than
outward, and if by chance you are
able to get some sort of glimpse of
this Clear Light phenomenon, it
just might register on you that for
all its seeming hugeness and dis-
tance the universe is actually

“neces sible, like a kind of infinite
. Internet, or even, if you like. a

form of cyberspace, from the entry
point of your own mind.
Certainly, that's what {think

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Suriday,

mast religions, cach in their own
distinct way, are trying to say.

Prayer is therefore u code sys-
tem or it set of signals intended to
open up a flow of primal energy
from the inner universe, which
plays somehow (again, that word)
upon. the world around us, rear-
ranging fate, as it were.

People for whom prayer has
scemed to work tn the past will
understand perfectly what | am
trying in my clumsy way to say,

People who have never tried
prayer because-they thought it was
a function of one particular reli-

May 21, 1995 -- North Shore News ~ 7

gion or another, rather than being
a natural force, will dismiss these
words as being nonsense or crazi-
NESS.

I could say | pray that won't
happen, but that would be a waste
of prayer energy.

Save it, | say, for some special
moment, some worthy cause, some
situation where there is already
electricity in the air.

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