Meditation Prayer

In two recent essays, Shadow Play and Song and Flame. I referred to a prayer I often use during meditation. Many of you have asked that I share that prayer. So here it is!

But first, a bit of explanation. A few of the lines below came from a prayer that made the rounds on the internet near the Winter Solstice of 2010. You can find a link to the site that includes this original prayer here, though you'll need to scroll way down the page until you reach A Solstice Prayer. It surprises me to see how different this original prayer is from the one I now use.

I'm not one for rote memorization. When I work with prayers or affirmations, I actively engage with the words, the feelings, the concepts. They are quite real to me and, therefore, do not remain static. Words and phrasings change with the day, my mood, my sensitivities. I add lines and take those away that no longer fit well or feel inspirational. The phrases on love grew from a single line from A Course In Miracles some friends had on their bedroom wall. In this way, the prayer informs my life and my life informs the prayer. We are linked together. 

Rarely is every word spoken or thought throughout an entire prayer. Rather, I think the meaning or feel the sensation or connection, without it being encapsulated in the form of words. So it was a bit of a trick to lay them out here, to dress them in the clothing of our common language. And if I were to do so tomorrow, likely some words would be different.

What I offer is an outline of a prayer I've found very helpful in orienting me to meditation and throughout my day. Here it is, along with some asides that give a feel for how I work with the prayer.

I breathe with the universal forces of creation…

~~Pause for several breaths, experiencing the fullness of the energizing Yang inhale and the fullness of the releasing Yin exhale~~

…under the guidance of...

~~Name those who have been important in your spiritual development, pausing a few moments after each one. I recognize it as an invocation of energy, usually with a strong sense of Presence surrounding me on the cushion as I go. Here is my own list, but of course create your own~~

the Buddha and his earthly representative Thich Nhat Hanh; Jesus Christ; the saints and sages of all spiritual traditions; all those who have, throughout time and without fanfare or recognition, infused ordinary human lives with Spirit; all my personal guides; all who have brought me to this place and time. 

~~And this next passage is where you bring it all back home, where the magic happens~~

I open to you now, as well as to all others who at this very moment are opening to Spirit in whatever way. I join my small voice to your vast chorus, add my tiny flame to your glorious fire.

~~Here, I often envision the Earth surrounded by innumerable points of light,
knowing one of them as my own.
Enter meditation, sensing or knowing yourself linked with a multitude of others as part of a greater whole, a greater flow. Allow yourself to become one with it.

When my meditation time is over, I start again at the beginning and complete the prayer~~

I breathe with the Universal Forces of Creation. Divine Source fills the spaces and cells of my being with pure Love and Light. I am healed, whole, and renewed and ready to move out into the world as your hollowing reed, allowing your Light to shine through me to all I meet this day, especially…

~~Name particular individuals, those you anticipate coming into contact with throughout your day. This is also a good time to send Light to someone in need.~~

…Love is the voice I listen to. Love is the voice I honor with my thoughts and actions. Love is the voice I remember as my own. I gratefully accept my role as a force for positive change 
at this time in Earth’s history.

Amen

I hope this has been helpful. Feel free to use these words as I wrote them or, better yet, make the prayer your own with changes coming immediately and continuing as you move forward. Let this prayer, and others you create, inform your life as you inform them. 

Many blessings!!!

Loanne Marie

Song and Flame

I recently wrote about a favorite prayer’s evocative opening line,

“I breathe with the universal forces of creation.” 

The prayer then goes on to acknowledge those whose teachings have guided and informed our spiritual path. And then it takes an exhilarating turn. We consciously connect to all who, at this very moment , are opening to Spirit.

           

Given the world’s population of 7 billion plus, that’s just gotta be a lotta folks! In churches, sanghas, sacred groves, hospitals, synagogues, prayer circles, mosques, prison cells, medicine wheels, ashrams, on nature walks or in solitary devotion, in praise or in pain, they are opening right now. In ways reflective of cultural background and spiritual awareness, they align with that which is good. If your belief system allows, to these numbers can be added those not in human form~~guides, angels, and enlightened beings who’ve left their physical bodies~~all giving themselves unceasingly to the Divine. And this prayer now unites us with them all.

“I join my small voice to your vast chorus, 

add my tiny flame to your glorious fire.”

There’s something about the immediacy of this line that always energizes me. No longer am I a single practitioner sitting on a cushion or meeting with a handful of friends in weekly meditation. I am now consciously linked with a multitude of others. The teaching that all is a vibrant interconnected whole comes alive in me. I am absorbed into a greater flow. And for a few moments, I sing and shine from there.

           

Soon, though, it is time to move into the rest of my life. Can I maintain a connection to that Oneness, with harmonious voice and shining flame? Sometimes. Other times, not so much. This is as it should be. We are apprentices all.

           

Just as training the voice is essential to take one’s place in a choral group, we need coaching to best express our essence in the world. The beauty is that the world itself provides this mentoring. We are continually given experiences that allow us to cultivate our own voice and, through the feedback received, refine it.

           

In that vast chorus referred to in the prayer, our instrument is our mind and emotions, our personality, our psyche, our intuitive sense. Our heart and our soul. We are students learning to sing. Some lessons are pleasant and come easily to us. Others make us dig deep.

           

When we greet every experience consciously, as an exercise perhaps designed specifically for us, our tone grows clear and strong. Our vocal range extends, and our ability to improvise in response to the emanations of others increases. We come to delight in the notes themselves, expressing them deftly, playfully. We find our particular niche in that magnificent chorus and sing our hearts out in a song that is our very life.

           

And what about that tiny flame that is ours alone? We give it away. Brightly shining, we joyfully cast our light into that glorious fire that births and consumes us all.            

Sing your refrain joyfully. Shine your light generously. Sing and burn. Burn and sing.

Loanne Marie

To read the essay about this prayer's first line, I breathe with the universal forces of creation, click here.
To read the entire prayer, click here.

Praying With Our Feet

This has been an inspirational week. My husband and I are slowly working our way through the major speeches of the Democratic National Convention taped during our recent travels. At the same time, we are actively involved at the local level in a debate on how to best address the problem of poor cell phone reception. Whether in the grand scheme of national government or the smaller world of our tiny town, I find myself called these days to act. 

How best to express spiritual values is a fundamental question for every seeker. The balance between inner experience and outer action will be unique to each of us, as our constitutions, proclivities, and life lessons are varied. But I know that my spirituality must move outward into the rest of my life. Of course, it must extend to how I relate to my family, friends, and clients. But I also know it must be reflected in the way I greet the cashier at our local store, in how I respond to the stranger on the street, and in my involvement in both local and national politics. 

The latter is a bit of a stretch for me, particularly given my somewhat introverted nature and disenchanted political history. I came to adolescence in the 60s and effortlessly absorbed a leftist sensibility that I have never abandoned. While my radicalism lessened as I grew older, I continued to see Democrats as hopelessly conservative. When Bill Clinton arrived on the scene and I finally voted for a president who actually won, I accepted that it was enough to have someone in the Oval Office who at least said the right things. I had become a grudging Democrat. 

And then came the Bush~Cheney years. Oh, my! Any thoughts I still harbored about it making little difference who was in the White House rapidly evaporated. I watched our country shrink on every measure of moral authority and conduct, and I knew without a doubt that it all would have been quite different under a President Gore. 

My spirituality deepened during the Bush~Cheney years, particularly during their second term. I wonder if this is entirely coincidental. Perhaps watching my country deteriorate on so many levels, apparently with the support of a fearful citizenry, propelled me inward in a search for something constant and true. I’ll never know. What I do know is that as I now listen to speech after speech so eloquently describing both the peril and opportunity facing us, I feel something stirring within me~~an urgent hope. I know that I must act, not just as an American who has the power to cast a vote, but as a spiritual being who has the opportunity to pray with her feet. It is not sufficient for me to meditate and extend a deepening spirituality into my personal world. I know I must act politically, even though such expression does not come easily to me. I know I must do what I can to elect Barrack Obama and Joe Biden. 

The Democrats and politics in general will likely disappoint me time and again. Of course they will; they are part of our imperfect world and reflect our human flaws~~as do I. The existence of imperfection, though, is no excuse for passivity or hopelessness. No, it is reason to pray with my feet. And my voice. And my time. And my keyboard. 

Barrack Obama is a candidate I can enthusiastically support. An individual who is intelligent, wise, and has the temperament to make reasoned choices. A person who understands the struggles of average Americans and will advocate for their needs within a bureaucracy that is often unresponsive. A man who is schooled in the Constitution, and will uphold it through his appointment of justices, including nominees to the Supreme Court. Someone who will repair our standing in the world community through a foreign policy that stands in accordance with our values, relying on diplomacy, choosing war as a last resort, and abolishing the use of torture. 

So, I will continue to register new voters. I will make my Obama calls and perhaps go door to door once more. And I will continue to press myself toward involvement in local politics as well. All of this is an expression, an extension, of my spiritual self. 

I hope your spirituality has also found its ground. And with feet strong and sure, may it run! 

Blessings! 

Loanne Marie

Addendum: A few days (and now years!) have passed since I wrote the above and my enthusiasm has waned a bit. I’ve remembered that US foreign and domestic policies have always had a seamy side, no matter the president, and that the choices of our elected leaders often raise the question of who their constituents truly are. I still remain an ambivalent Democrat. Yet hope endures. It really does matter which imperfect person sits in that imperfect White House. I continue to feel infinitely better with the prospect of Obama and Biden there than the alternative. And pray with my feet I shall!