PRAYERS THAT ARE FUTILE

　PRAYERS forfine weather or for rain are common in orthodox churches. Members of Swaffer's home circle were discussing prayers to make the sun shine when a sitter asked:

　"What would God have to do to make fine weather sud-denly? How many tons of pressure over Iceland would He have to move, and how would He do it?'"

　"I have been asked before about these days of prayer," said Silver Birch, "and the Great Spirit is not impressed when suddenly decide to petition Him in mass form. The Great Spirit, being the Great Spirit, is familiar with the needs of all

His children before He is acquainted with that fact in places which are called cathedrals and churches.

　"Prayer does not consist in the fact that large numbers of people gather together and listen to set words or to specially devised compositions. Prayer cannot alter the operation of the natural law. Prayer cannot interfere with the sequence of cause and effect. Man does not possess that power to interrupt what is a mathematical certaintyーthat effect follows cause with unalterable precision.

　"Prayer has value as an exercise of the spirit, when the individual, conscious of his own limitations and, paradoxi-cally, his innate strength, tries to release that flow of latent energy within his own being to inspire and impel him to greater deeds. Prayer, when it is truly prayer and thus an exercise of the spirit, is a means by which man's spirit releases itself from some of earth's thraldom and finds a greater mani-festation. Thus man makes himself more receptive to higher forces and becomes his own vehicle for the answer of his own prayer, that is, by desiring to serve he makes himself worthy of greater inspiration.

　"Now that is how I understand the value of prayer. But mass supplications to alter natural law cannot have any effect."

　A sitter commented that by the churches bad weather was regarded as a sign of the world's wickedness.

　"I don't think the world is wicked," replied Silver Birch. "I don't think that rain comes as a punishment for sin. Natural event and human life are not so related. Besides, there was no more wickedness in the last week than there was a few months ago.

　"It is still the old idea of the God who is a magnified human being with partiality and favouritism, with wrath and anger. God is the Great Spirit of life,. The power that shapes the whole universe cannot be deflected by mass prayer. What man can do is to discover how the laws of the universe operate, put himself in harmony with them, build systems of life which enable them to operate so that the greatest good is received by the greatest number. And thus the Great Spirit, as expressed in man's awakened spirit, is fully at work. That is as I see it."

　"Do you think," the guide was asked, "that ultimately man will harness some of these things?"

　"Partly," was the reply, "but he has to earn it. He has to be-come so awakened that he knows how to use these forces in the service of mankind. There is the eternal principle at work of compensation and retribution. Man never advances so far that he also has not some disadvantage to conquer.

　"Whatever gift knowledge brings, it always brings some-thing elseーresponsibility of what is to be done with such knowledge, and responsibility is determined by man's charac-ter, and man's character is determined by his knowledge. Thus knowledge spreads and character grows, life becomes richer, more dignified, more noble and there is a sweetness and joy for larger numbers.

　"I know you are all thinking of the atomic discoveries, but you will find when all the factors are known that there are other factors not yet revealed which are partly a check on what has been found. Man will never be in the position where he can control life itself. He will discover more and more secrets which give him greater and greater power, but unless his responsibility keeps pace with his power, then these forces would be incorrectly used, destruction would be the result, and evolution would cease to be. That is impossible, for always there are ever-widening circles. Sometimes it is the upgrade and sometimes it is the downgrade, but the circle keeps widening, widening, widening, and progress is being made."

　"So these for fine weather mean nothing at all in the spirit world?" asked a sitter.

　"No," answered the guide, "even though sincerity was expressed; it cannot alter natural law. Beware of those who see omens, divine omens, in ordinary happenings of natural life; that is the way of superstition. It is to knowledge and reason that we appeal."

　In his parting remarks to the circle and its visitors, Silver Birch said: "I love all those whose desire is to help mankind. I have worked near your world for many years and have made many friends. Each one who accepts my friendship becomes a soul dear to me.

　"You have many opportunities in front of you to serve others. It does not matter in which field labour. If you touch but one soul, if you help only one to feel the burden of life is not so heavy, if only one individual ceases to mourn, if only one is healed, if only one feels that life is now worth living because of what have done, then indeed your life has been worth living.

　"There are so many who know not where to turn, there-fore we rejoice if one finds the light, the light that leads to truth and wisdom, the light that causes the darkness to recede. For those who find the light are awakened, and because they are awakened they desire that others may share the light with them. Thus is the divine illumination spread on earth and we desire it to spread until there is not one dark corner left. until all the children are bathed in sunshine, with wisdom and love to guide them hour by hour.

　"There are too many twisted, distorted, frustrated, thwarted beings; too many who live in despair and fear; too many faced with blank hopelessness. We desire to offer them the riches of the spirit, that they may enjoy all the fruits that infinite wisdom has to offer them."

　On another occasion, it was pointed out to Silver Birch:

　"In many Spiritualist churches a prayer is offered on behalf of the doctors and nurses. Would it not be better to pray that all doctors and nurses become healers?"

　"It is much better," answered the guide, "that doctors and nurses become healers, but it will not be effected by praying for it. There is a great misconception about prayer in your world. Prayer, however humbly performed, does not con-sist in instructing the Great Spirit in the tasks that you con-sider are necessary to be performed.

　"The Great Spirit, being omniscient and omnipotent, is quite aware of the necessity for doctors and others to have full knowledge of the power of the spirit in the work of healing the sick, and by addressing petitions to the Great Spirit, re-minding Him of this admirable necessity, the doctors and nurses will not thereby be transformed into healing mediums. The function of prayer is spiritual exercise. It is a means by which the soul begins to find its larger self, freeing itself from some of the physical restrictions imposed on it, and achieving unity with the higher forces which are more naturally asso-ciated with it.

　Thus, true prayer is a means by which the individual is retreshed, strengthened, a means by which he is enabled to have greater inspiration and power coming into his being. True prayer should enable him to harmonise his will with the will of the Great Spirit.

　"It should teach him to look within himself in those timen of self-examination to see there the imperfections and flaws which are disfiguring the divine handiwork and resolve to drive them out, to climb nearer to perfection and thus be more worthy of his divine ancestry."

　And here is a typical prayer, one of the many beautiful invocations offered impromptu by Silver Birch:

　"Oh Great White Spirit, we strive to reveal the perfect love which is behind the perfect law. Throughout all the cen-turies men have tried to visualise Thee and their conceptions have been based upon their shortcomings, their limitations, their restrictions.

　"They have caught faint glimpses of the supernal wisdom that directs universal life and have sought to translate this transcendental power into terms which they could compre-hend. They visualised Thy character in terms of a human being, with all the weaknesses, faults and passions that are common to all mortals. They conceived a personal deity who intervened in order to show divine favour or wrath. Even with the growth of knowledge throughout the cen-turies the picture that is painted of the Creator of the whole universe falls short of what Thou really art.

　"It is beyond the mind of any man to translate the infinite into finite language. All the divinity of Thy majesty, and all the eternity of Thy love and Thy wisdom are incapable of being understood by those whose senses confine them to a world of matter.

　"And so we, who have had experience of other aspects of being, point to the natural law; the law which contains and regulates all; the law which is unfailing in its constancy and inflexible in its purpose; the law which makes provision for every kind of activity in a universe filled with myriads of forms of being; the law that controls all the natural pheno-mena of life; the law that regulates the orbit of human activity.

　"With an understanding of how the universe is ruled, and with a dismissal of the idea of a partisan God, there does come to the mind a picture of sequence, orderliness, rhythm, har-mony and perfect balance. The individual realises that he is part of an infinite scheme, his own life playing its measured part in the divine plan.

　"It is part of our task to reveal those qualities of the human spirit which can add their lustre to life, those gifts of the soul and the mind which are still unexplored regions, which are filled with vast potentialities and which, when exercised, can bring into human life a richness and sweetness, a grandeur and nobility, a breadth of vision and mental stature that transform the whole of human understanding.

　"These are the aspects of man which relate him to the eternal; these are the divine attributes which Thou hast im-planted; and these are the gifts which, when developed, make him god-like and help him to fulfil his birthright and to claim his heritage.

　"Thus it is that we labour in the fields of spiritual attain-ment, for it is there that so much ignorance reigns. If that could be dispelled, the light of truth would be the guide for all humanity.

　"All that belongs to the darkness would no longer exist and Thy children everywhere would live as Thou dost intend, free, upright and worthy of their divine kinship.

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