YouTube: Foundation for Prayer
Audio: Foundation for Prayer
Question: Unity was founded on prayer. Why aren’t you considering prayer as one of the principles of Independent Unity?
Answer: Unity was indeed founded on prayer, but prayer does not have a universal meaning. Those who believe they are separate from God treat prayer as petitionary, beseeching. The purpose is to request something of God or to influence God to act in a way that is either beneficial to the one making the request, or to the cause for which they are praying.
In contrast, the one who thinks of God as present, fully active and already working for his or her highest good will treat prayer as the process of bringing their thoughts and attitudes into alignment with what is true at the deepest level. And what is true? God is the only power, the power of good. The one praying is an expression of this power and can never be separate from their spiritual source. A healing prayer starts with the understanding that we are already whole, that our wholeness is now shining forth through our mind and body. That the body may not be reflecting this wholeness currently does not change the truth. Prayer is a two-fold action of first releasing the energy we’ve given to the negative appearance, and then affirming the truth of our wholeness.
Question: You’re talking about the use of denial and affirmation?
Answer: Yes. But let’s make sure we understand what we mean by these terms. Suppose you have a five-pound rock that represents a problem you are facing. You pick up this rock. If you say, “I now release this rock and I am free of its weight,” you have uttered what many consider a denial and an affirmation. Your stated denial is “I now release this rock.” Your affirmation is, “I am free of its weight.” But let’s say you don’t release the rock, that you keep holding it. You can repeat your denial and affirmation indefinitely. You can engage in some creative visualization of what it would be like to go through your day free of the burden of the rock. But you still cling to the rock.
It’s important that we think of denial and affirmation, not as words, but as actions. The words simply describe the action we are to take. We release the negative energy associated with an unwanted appearance and we allow ourselves to experience the freedom we seek. In this way we create the equivalent in consciousness to the condition we desire.
J Douglas Bottorff 