THE TRUTH ABOUT PRAYER

　"I PRAY because I strive to attune myself to the highest conception of which I am capable," said Silver Birch, when asked why he prays “to the Great Spirit.”

　"I find in prayer," he said, “a means of aspiration, a means of self-examination, the ability to focus aspirations without and to turn the searchlight of criticism within. Real prayer does not consist in presenting petitions for requests to be granted that are of a selfish motive. We recognise that the Great Spirit knows all our unspoken thoughts, and all our needs are familiar before we express them.

　"Nevertheless, prayer is a means of harmonising ourselves to the higher forces which are round and about all of us. It enables us to still ourselves for a short while, and to place our-selves in a more receptive frame of mind and spirit. This stilling of our nature, even for a short time, permits higher forces to reach us whilst we are in this passive stage, and thus we are providing the means by which our real requirements can be met.

　"Selfish prayer is merely a waste of time, words and mental energy, for these have no potency; they produce no effect. But where an individual desires, in all sincerity, to make him-self of greater service, looks into himself to find imperfections which can be eliminated, weaknesses which can be conquered, limitations which can be driven away, then his prayer will provide him with strength, encouragement and with resolve, and he will be all the better for it.

　"To whom or what should you pray? Here there is a diffi-culty, because all human beings are cast in different moulds. They are necessarily subject to their own mental limitations; they cannot visualise anything greater than that which they know. I have to accommodate myself, to some extent, to the amount of knowledge which has been vouchsafed to your world. I have to resort to some form of convention. I have to use the medium of speech, and the words, which are the counters of exchange of ideas, are in themselves a restriction of the very ideas they are trying to express.”

　The guide continued: “And so, if I am to be of service, I have to make use of some of your customs and habits and manners. I have to refer to the Great Spirit often in terms of the masculine gender when I do not believe that the Great Spirit is a person. I teach of the first cause, the cosmic origin, the perfect law in operation.

　"When I lived on earth all of us believed that we were guided by beings from another world. These made themselves manifest to us in forms which are somewhat similar to the methods that you use at your gatherings. The higher in the scale that the communicator was, the more dazzlingly white was his radiance. And so we conceived as the greatest of all as being the whitest of all. Always, white is the symbol of perfection, that which is untainted, that which is the emblem of unadulterated purity. And so we conceived of the greatest spirit as being the "Great White Spirit.' That was the highest conception of which we were capable.

　"It is a familiar form to me, and as I have to clothe all ideas in the language of your world, I still resort to the old formula which I used for many years. Nevertheless, I emphasise that it is not a person, not a personal god, not a deified human, not a magnified being, not an individual subject to your earthly passions and angers and material limitations, but the great eternal spirit, the origin of all life, the divine cosmic force which is the primal being of all that exists throughout the universe and which takes conscious form in human beings.

　"I, too, realise that I cannot succeed in giving a completely comprehensive picture of the infinite intelligence which is behind all life, but at least the one I strive to present is more in keeping with what I know than the many crude representations which have flourished for too long in your world. You must always remember that man is evolving all the time, and that as he evolves his conceptions become enlarged. The boundaries of his mental horizon are not as restricted as they were, and God, or the Great Spirit, or the divine first cause, is subject to this evolution on the part of man, but the Great Spirit remains all the time.

　"In thousands of years those who dwell on earth will have a far better picture of the Great Spirit than the present earth-dwellers possess. That is why it must always be emphasised that religion is not dependent upon what happened in the past. The past is not sacred because it is the past. Any attempts to restrict the power of the spirit to what happened yesterday are bound to fail because they ignore the supreme fact that the power of the spirit is an ever-present reality. Wherever there are the means, that power can descend in any part of the world.

　"The past is valuable as a record, but it does not contain the finality of all revelation. The Great Spirit will continue to reveal more and more of its perfection as the children of the Great Spirit are capable of receiving more and more knowledge, All life is growth; life is never static. Your world says that nature abhors a vacuum.

　"We must encourage people to realise that they have at their command every day, every hour of the day, faculties which will enable them to express to a large degree inherent divinity, that there is at their disposal a vast treasuty of spiritual riches, that there is waiting for them an infinity of wisdom whose beauty is beyond all description. They have not plumbed the depths of infinite truth, they are still but on the surface."

　"I notice," said a member of the circle, “that you always develop the theme of the law relating to spiritual life, but it sometimes strikes me that not enough attention is paid to the law relating to the care of the physical body. We do not seem to stress that very much, do we?"

　"No," answered the guide, “because I think that enough attention, generally speaking, is paid to the requirements of the physical body. I look at your world, in which the vast majority know practically nothing about the eternal of part of themselvesーtheir spiritual realities.

　"They spend practically the whole of their life in caring for their physical requirements. They spend hardly any timeーand here, of course, I am generalisingーin the cultivation of their spiritual faculties. Indeed, the number of those who are aware that they possess spiritual faculties is very small com-pared with those who do not know. Therefore, I think it important to teach of the eternal principles so that a proper perspective may be enjoyed by all.

　"I never have taught that you should ignore your duties towards the world in which you live. If you are cognisant of spiritual truths you are an individual filled with greater respon-sibility because you know your place in the universe. You are a better citizen, not only of your country, but of your world. You begin to understand the great plan behind all life, to know your part in that vast scheme and, if you are wise, to live your life accordingly.

　"The body has certain duties because it is the living temple of the spirit. You should pay attention to the instrument through which the spirit functions on earth, but it would be just as wrong to ignore spiritual realities as it would be to neglect earthly duties.

　"I have little sympathy with the many, whom I consider to be indulging in a form of selfishness, who shut themselves away from the world, performing no obligations to the world, and seeking only some kind of satisfaction in æsthetic or even mystical contemplation. You should strike the right balance. You should have knowledge of all the laws. You should be aware of your heritage and your destiny; then you will be able to fulfil the purpose for which you came into the world.

　"What I do say is that those who will accept this knowledge will have as a result a new understanding of life, with all its possibilities. They will realise the place of religion in the divine scheme. They will know the purpose of science; they will have an appreciation of the arts; they will understand the best kind of education that is required. This truth touches all facets of human activity, and each one it illumes with the radiance of the spirit. It is better to go through life with knowledge than with ignorance."

　When the account of one of our sittings was published, a phrase used by Silver Birch puzzled a reader. The phrase was, "Apart from the totality of life, the Great Spirit has no exis-tence." The reader wrote and asked, "If this is so, what is the use of praying?"

　"If he does not want to pray, he need not pray," was the guide's answer to this question. “I do not ask anybody to pray. But do you not realise that if you have no desire to pray, then it is better that you should not pray, because prayer then is only an automatic repetition that consists of meaningless words? Prayer has a purpose, a spiritual purpose, that helps the un-foldment of the soul, but I do not want the idea to spread that prayer is the substitute for activity or the means of escape from life.

　"Prayer should be the incentive so that your aspirations may be heightened, your resolves become more fortifiedーa means of girding up your strength so that you can fight all the battles that come your way. To what you pray and how you pray, these questions are dependent upon the growth of your soul and upon your conception of the power which is behind all life.

　"Prayer is a means by which the particle of divinity establishes a closer union with the great oneness of life of which that particle is one small part. If you understand your relation-Ship to the power behind all life then you have found yourself.”

　In discussing further questions, the guide said: “All knowledge is important. If you help one soul to find the light you have done a great work. It is not always the things which are in the glare of limelight that are important. There are many thou-sands of souls yearning for some truth, for some little comfort that will assuage their grief, and we must help all wherever we can"

　Another questioner had also quoted Silver Birch, who, a few weeks previously had said, "There is no intervention by the Great Spirit, and do not allow your nation, however just its cause, to imagine that the Great Spirit takes sides."

　The inquirer said this statement seemed contrary to what Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye ask and pray for believe that ye have received it and it shall be given to you." This, she said, had put her in some difficulty in praying for her loved ones.

　"She should do nothing which is contrary to her reason," said the guide. "If she can pray, she should pray; and if she cannot pray, she should not pray. If she thinks that the words attributed to the Nazarene are true, she should follow them. If she thinks they are not true, she should discard them. She should use her own reason, the precious gift of the Great Spirit, to guide her daily life, her thoughts, her words and her actions, and discard from her religion, her philosophy, her outlook all that which offends her judgment or insults her intelligence. I cannot put it clearer than that."

　"It is probably untrueー'Ask and ye shall receive,'" com-mented a member of the circle.

　Silver Birch replied: "It all depends on what you receive. If every prayer was answered as it was asked, the world would be chaotic. Sometimes the best answer to your prayer is not to answer it."

　"The proverbs contradict themselves, and yet each has some-thing of the truth," was another comment.

　This was the guide's answer: "I do not appeal to words in any book. I have said this before, 'Our allegiance is not to a Creed, not to a Book, not to a Church, but to the Great Spirit of life and to His eternal, natural laws. I have never deviated from that attitude."

　This is a spontaneousーas are all his invocationsーprayer, typical of the many beautiful words Silver Birch has uttered to" the Great White Spirit":

　"Oh Great White Spirit, it is of Thee that we desire to speak, to find the words that will strive, in clumsy fashion, to express Thy majesty, Thy divinity, Thy omnipotent law which operates throughout a universe which is boundless. 

　"We desire to reveal some of the rich treasury of the spirit that men and women whose hearts are filled with fears and whose minds are clouded with dismay may know how to turn to Thee, to find Thee and thus to find that assurance which will tell them all is well, divinely well.

　"It is part of our purpose to strip away all the falsities, all the foolish error, all the ignorance and misapprehension that have prevented Thy children from beholding Thee as Thou art, the law, perfect in execution and in operation, the law which never fails or falters, the law which makes no mistakes.

　"We see a universe in which provision has been made for every being, animate or inanimate, and for every circumstance. Nothing is hidden from Thee, there are no secrets or riddles, Thou knowest all, for all comes within the domain of Thy law.

　"And so it is to this law which we point, the law which has always been in operation, the law which always will be in operation, so that Thy children may learn to harmonise their lives in co-operation with Thy laws, so that all the darkness, all the evil, all the chaos and misery may be banished and light may reign for ever in their midst.

　"It is part of our task to reveal that love is deathless, that life is infinite, that the grave does not part those who are bound to one another by the indissoluble tie of love; that all obstacles can be surmounted and all barriers broken down when love calls to its own and the mightiest power in the universe streams through many

instruments so that love can be united once again.

　"We desire to reveal all the richness of the spirit, the divine, infinite spirit, inexhaustible in its nature, that awaits man's service when he has learnt to evolve himself and by so doing thus equip himself for the part which he is destined to play. 

　"This is the prayer of Thy Indian servant who seeks to Serve."