Prayer has no beginning and no end. It is a part of life. But it does change in form, and grow with learning until it reaches its formless state, and fuses into total communication with God. In its asking form it need not, and often does not, make appeal to God, or even involve belief in Him. At these levels prayer is merely wanting, out of a sense of scarcity and lack.
These forms of prayer, or asking-out-of-need, always involve feelings of weakness and inadequacy, and could never be made by a Son of God who knows Who he is. No one, then, who is sure of his Identity [as God’s Son] could pray in these forms. Yet it is also true that no one who is uncertain of his Identity can avoid praying in this way. And prayer is as continual as life. Everyone prays without ceasing. Ask and you have received, for you have established what it is you want.
It is also possible to reach a higher form of asking-out-of-need, for in this world prayer is reparative, and so it must entail levels of learning. Here, the asking may be addressed to God in honest belief, though not yet with understanding. A vague and usually unstable sense of identification has generally been reached, but tends to be blurred by a deep-rooted sense of sin. It is possible at this level to continue to ask for things of this world in various forms, and it is also possible to ask for gifts such as honesty or goodness, and particularly for forgiveness for the many sources of guilt that inevitably underlie any prayer of need. Without guilt there is no scarcity. The sinless have no needs. (A Course in Miracles, S-1.II.1-3)
The Course is teaching us that the Son of God is our true Identity. We remain united and whole in the innocence of the Love of God. This is not how we see ourselves. The world we experience is the out picturing of the decision to believe that we are separate from God. Not only do we not experience the peace of God’s Love, we feel guilty for having denied our Father, our Creator.
This guilt influences all our perceptions in the world. The pain of guilt is intolerable. To reduce the pain, we try to project it on other people and the world. But it does not eliminate the guilt, it only hides it in our unconscious. Guilt demands punishment. The unconscious guilt prays for punishment. It finds punishment in physical sickness and many forms of attack on the body, the ego’s chosen home.
The Course is offering us another way to pray. Instead of praying for punishment, we are being taught to see with Christ’s vision. Christ, our true Self, overlooks the forms of the world and sees the Love beyond the forms. Prayer to see the innocence of Christ frees our mind from the self-imposed need for punishment.
As we learn to recognize the truth of our innocence, we no longer need to bring pain and fear into our minds. As we pray through our willingness to receive Christ’s vision, we free ourselves from the bondage of an identity separated from Love. We welcome the Love that joins us with All That is real. Love is no longer feared but accepted as the healing balm that forgives our perceived sins. This brings us to true prayer that leads us Home to the welcoming arms of God’s Love.
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