Prayer at center of your life has power to transform.Byline: FROM HEART TO HEART By the Rev. Nola Woodbury For The Register-Guard Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. ago, I went through a devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. divorce. The pain and sadness forced me to look at life differently and to seek out a truth on which I could rebuild my life. Although I was raised as a Christian, I turned to the teachings of Buddha, chanted Hindu prayers at retreats with Ram Dass “Richard Alpert” redirects here. For the fictional character from Lost, see Richard Alpert (Lost). Dr. Richard Alpert (born April 6, 1931), also known as Baba Ram Dass, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who wrote the 1971 bestseller Be Here Now. , and read the three-volume commentary on the Bagavad Gita written by Sri Eknath Easwaran Eknath Easwaran (December, 1910 – October, 1999) was born in a village in Kerala, India. He served as Professor of English literature at the University of Nagpur, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. . I started meditating on my own, and then I attended The Blue Mountain Meditation Center in California to deepen my practice. There, Sri Easwaran taught what is known as "passage meditation Passage meditation is a modern meditation technique developed by spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran. Rooted in classic methods found in most spiritual traditions including a long-standing tradition of Hinduism dating back to Vedic times [1] it involves silent, focused repetition ." He teaches you to memorize an inspirational passage from any sacred text. Then, in your meditation, you go through the words of the passage in your mind as slowly as you can, letting each word drop singly into your consciousness. Your repetitions drive the words deeper and deeper into your consciousness, so that they eventually become an integral part of you. The secret of this meditation is that you become what you meditate med·i·tate v. med·i·tat·ed, med·i·tat·ing, med·i·tates v.tr. 1. To reflect on; contemplate. 2. To plan in the mind; intend: meditated a visit to her daughter. on. I began my practice using The St. Francis Prayer. This simple prayer is one of the most well-known of all the prayers in recorded history Recorded history can be defined as history that has been written down or recorded by the use of language, whereas history is a more general term referring simply to information about the past.[1] It starts in the 4th millennium BC, with the invention of writing. . In it, St. Francis describes the essential content of our highest self. He expresses the deep yearning that we all have to be the spiritual being who inhabits our physical form. It expresses a wish to be an instrument for God's will. To ask for the strength to sow love where there is hatred, hope where there is despair, and light where there is darkness is to ask to be free from the pettiness and judgments that so often imprison im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- us. This prayer is a way of seeking to practice in everyday life consoling, understanding, pardoning and giving. It is a request to be an expression of the powerful love that we attribute to the Creator and that is part of our own being. Each morning for 20 years, I have recited the words of this prayer. It has become a touchstone for me, connecting me to the highest, most sacred aspect of my being - and connecting me to God. When I first started memorizing the prayer, I had to start from the beginning again and again. Hundreds of times I began with the words, "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace." It finally dawned on me that this was the essence of the prayer. The rest of the prayer is all "how-tos." Seeing myself as an instrument of peace and holding that pure intent in my heart started dissolving thoughts that were not peaceful. Those eight words alone can improve every relationship we have, starting with our relationship with ourself our·self pron. 1. Myself. Used as a reflexive when we is used instead of I by a singular speaker or author, as in an editorial or a royal proclamation. See Usage Note at myself. 2. Nonstandard Ourselves. . They can help promote peace in our family, our workplace, our community and our world. The practice of prayer is an incredibly powerful force for transformation in our lives. Imagine a world in which all people lived The St. Francis Prayer. The Rev. Nola Woodbury is a minister at Unity of the Valley Church, a New Thought Christian church located in south Eugene. This column is coordinated by Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, a network of faith communities in the Eugene-Springfield area. For more information, call 344-5693. |
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