Unlike the daily
murmurings of the vast majority of mankind in all lands who by their vain
repetitions hope to gain the ear of God, prayer is the ecstasy of a spiritual
wedding taking place in the deep, silent stillness of consciousness.
In its true sense
prayer is God’s marriage ceremony.
Just as a maid on her wedding day
relinquishes the name of her family to assume the name of her husband, in like
manner, one who prays must relinquish his present name or nature and assume the
nature of that for which he prays.
The gospels have
clearly instructed man as to the performance of this ceremony in the following
manner:
“When ye pray go within in secret and
shut the door and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”
[Matthew 6:6].
The
going within is the entering of the bridal chamber. Just as no one but the bride and groom are permitted to enter so
holy a room as the bridal suite on the night of the marriage ceremony, likewise
no one but the one who prays and that for which he prays are permitted to enter
the holy hour of prayer. As the bride and groom on entering the bridal suite
securely shut the door against the outside world, so too must the one who
enters the holy hour of prayer close the door of the senses and entirely shut
out the world round about him.
This
is accomplished by taking the attention completely away from all things other
than that with which you are now in love (the thing desired).
The second phase of
this spiritual ceremony is defined in these words, “When ye pray, believe that
ye receive, and ye shall receive”.
As
you joyfully contemplate being and possessing that which you desire to be and
to have, you have taken this second step and are therefore spiritually
performing the acts of marriage and generation.
Your receptive
attitude of mind while praying or contemplating can be likened to a bride or
womb for it is that aspect of mind which receives the impressions.
That which you
contemplate being is the groom, for it is the name or nature you assume and
therefore is that which leaves its impregnation; so one dies to maidenhood or
present nature as one assumes the name and nature of the impregnation.
Lost in
contemplation and having assumed the name and nature of the thing contemplated,
your whole being thrills with the joy of being it. This thrill, which runs
through your entire being as you appropriate the consciousness of your desire,
is the proof that you are both married and impregnated.
As you return from
this silent meditation, the door is once more opened upon the world you had
left behind. But this time you return as a pregnant bride.
You enter the world
a changed being and, although no one but you knows of this wonderful romance,
the world will, in a very short while, see the signs of your pregnancy, for you
will begin to express that which you in your hour of silence felt yourself to be.
The mother of the
world or bride of the Lord is purposely called Mary, or water, for water loses
its identity as it assumes the nature of that with which it is mixed; likewise,
Mary, the receptive attitude of mind, must lose its identity as it assumes the
nature of the thing desired.
Only as one is
willing to give up his present limitations and identity can he become that
which he desires to be.
Prayer
is the formula by which such divorces and marriages are accomplished. “Two
shall agree as touching anything and it shall be established on earth” [Matthew
18:19].
The two agreeing
are you, the bride, and the thing desired, the groom.
As this agreement
is accomplished, a son bearing witness of this union will be born. You begin to
express and possess that which you are conscious of being.
Praying, then, is recognizing yourself
to be that which you desire to be rather than begging God for that which you desire.
Millions of prayers
are daily unanswered because man prays to a God who does not exist.
Consciousness being
God, one must seek in consciousness for the thing desired by assuming the
consciousness of the quality desired. Only as one does this will his prayers be
answered.
To be conscious of
being poor while praying for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are
conscious of being, namely, poverty.
Prayers, to be successful, must be claimed and
appropriated. Assume the positive consciousness of the thing desired.
With your desire
defined, quietly go within and shut the door behind you. Lose yourself in your
desire; feel yourself to be one with it; remain in this fixation until you have
absorbed the life and name by claiming and feeling yourself to be and to have that
which you desired.
When you emerge
from the hour of prayer, you must do so conscious of being and possessing that
which you heretofore desired.
Jesus
said: There are many standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will
enter the bridal chamber.” Gospel of Thomas 75.
..there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest..” Gospel of Thomas 5
The Father, Son and
Holy Spirit are three aspects or conditions of the unconditioned awareness of
being called God.
The consciousness
of being precedes the consciousness of being something. That unconditioned
awareness which preceded all states of awareness is God – I AM.
The three
conditioned aspects or divisions of itself can best be told in this manner:
The receptive attitude of mind is that aspect which receives
impressions and therefore may be likened to a womb or Mother.
That which makes the impression is the male or pressing aspect
and is therefore known as Father.
The impression in time becomes an expression, which expression
is ever the likeness and image of the impression; therefore this objectified
aspect is said to be the Son bearing witness of his Father-Mother.
An understanding of
this mystery of the trinity enables the one who understands it to completely
transform his world and fashion it to his own liking.
Here is a practical
application of this mystery.
Sit quietly and decide what it is you would like most to express
or possess. After you have decided, close your eyes and take your attention
completely away from all that would deny the realization of the thing desired;
then assume a receptive attitude of mind and play the game of supposing by
imagining how you would feel if you were now to realize your desire.
Begin to listen as though space were talking to you and telling
you that you are now that which you desire to be.
This receptive attitude is the state of consciousness that you
must assume before an impression can be made.
As this pliable and impressive state of mind is attained, then
begin to impress upon yourself the fact that you are that which you desired to
be by claiming and feeling that you are now expressing and possessing that
which you had decided to be and to have.
Continue in this attitude until the impression is made.
As you contemplate, being and possessing that which you have
decided to be and to have, you will notice that with every inhalation of breath
a joyful thrill courses through your entire being.
This thrill increases in intensity as you feel more and more the
joy of being that which you are claiming yourself to be.
Then in one final deep inhalation, your whole being will explode
with the joy of accomplishment and you will know by your feeling that you are
impregnated by God, the Father.
As soon as the impression is made, open your eyes and return to
the world that but a few moments before you had shut out.
In this receptive attitude of yours, while you contemplated
being that which you desired to be, you were actually performing the spiritual
act of generation so you are now on your return from this silent meditation a
pregnant being bearing a child or impression, which child was immaculately
conceived without the aid of man.
Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also. – John 14:1-3
The ME in whom you must believe is your consciousness, the I AM;
it is God.
It is also the Father’s house containing within itself all
conceivable states of consciousness.
Every conditioned state of consciousness is called a mansion.
This conversation takes place within yourself.
Your I AM, the
unconditioned consciousness, is the Christ speaking to the conditioned self or
the John Smith consciousness.
“I AM John Smith”,
from a mystical point of view, is two beings, namely, Christ and John Smith.
So I go to prepare a place for you, moving from your present
state of consciousness into that state desired.
It is a promise by your Christ or awareness of being to your
present conception of yourself that you will leave your present consciousness
and appropriate another.
Man is such a slave
to time that, if after he has appropriated a state of consciousness which is
not now seen by the world and it, the appropriated state, does not immediately
embody itself, he loses faith in his unseen claim; forthwith he drops it and returns
to his former static state of being.
Because of this
limitation of man, I have found it very helpful to employ a specified interval
of time in making this journey into a prepared mansion.
“Wait
but a little while” [Job 36:2].
We have all
catalogued the different days of the week, months of the year and seasons. By
this, I mean you and I have said time and again, “Why, today feels just like
Sunday” or “-Monday” or “-Saturday”. We have also said in the middle of Summer,
“Why, this feels and looks like the Fall of the year”.
This is positive
proof that you and I have definite feelings associated with these different
days, months and seasons of the year. Because of this association, we can at
any time consciously dwell in that day or season which we have selected.
Do not selfishly
define this interval in days and hours because you are anxious to receive it,
but simply remain in the conviction that it is done – time, being purely
relative, should be eliminated entirely – and your desire will be fulfilled.
This ability to
dwell at any point in time permits us to employ time in our travel into the
desired mansion.
Now I (consciousness) go to a point in time and there prepare a place. If I go to
such a point in time and prepare a place, I shall return to this point in time
where I have left; and I shall pick up and take you with me into that place
which I have prepared, that where I AM, there ye may also be.
Let me give you an
example of this travel.
Suppose you had an intense desire. Like most men who are
enslaved by time, you might feel that you could not possibly realize so large a
desire in a limited interval. But admitting that all things are possible to
God, believing God to be the ME within you or your consciousness of being, you
can say,
“As
John Smith, I can do nothing; but since all things are possible to God and God
I know to be my consciousness of being, I can realize my desire in a little
while.
How
my desire will be realized I do not (as
John Smith) know, but by the very
law of my being I do know that it shall be”.
With this belief firmly established, decide what would be a
relative, rational interval of time in which such a desire could be realized.
Again,
let me remind you not to shorten the interval of time because you are anxious
to receive your desire; make it a natural interval. No one can give you the
time interval. Only you can say what the natural interval would be to you. The
interval of time is relative, that is, no two individuals would give the same
measurement of time for the realization of their desire.
Time is ever conditioned by man’s conception of himself.
Confidence in yourself as determined by conditioned
consciousness always shortens the interval of time.
If you were accustomed to great accomplishments, you would give
yourself a much shorter interval in which to accomplish your desire than the
man schooled in defeat.
Ask no help of man;
feel, “It is done”, by consciously claiming yourself to be, now, that which as
man you hope to be.
“I AM that; it is
done; thank You, Father”.
Commands, to be effective, must be to
oneself. “I AM that I AM” is the only effective command.
Your Faith Is Your Fortune by Neville Goddard
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