Regular Prayer Life

As we explore, seeking knowledge of what is inside of us, knowledge about the world around us, knowledge of our potential growth, knowledge of good and spiritual things... an on-going dialog with ourselves is taking place.

Prayer is a way of purposefully extending such a dialog with something that can be communicated, felt, or intuited... something that may guide, something that may provide creative input, inspiration, or challenge...

Questioning Prayer...
What Is Prayer?

There are many reasons to question just what a prayer is.

In the context of a Gnostic Path, the focus is upon personal experience, insight, and knowledge. You are not asked to simply trust whatever I may teach. You are invited to experience and understand for yourself the subjects and issues explored and brought to the fore in Gnostic texts.

And so it seems best to first ask the reader to reflect upon the nature of their own inner dialog.

Also, consider the experience of your own most intimate dialog with other people. Consider your own relationships and subtle forms of communication or interaction with their inner and outer worlds. This can serve as a starting-point for further understanding and insight.

I refer the reader to a previous article on Contemplative Prayer and Meditation, where an experiential basis for understanding prayer was explored from various angles.

What is Dialog?
What is Potential?
What is Actual?

It is true that our inner dialog is something we can view as existing merely in our own head. It is also true that our perception of dialog with other people can be viewed as existing merely in our own head.

But our experience of actions that are taken in connection to such inner dialog, and our awareness of how other people are effected in our experiences in the world, indicates the extension of reality beyond the confines of our own limited conscious imaginations. For example, to be selfish or narcissistic can cause harm to others. To be unable to consider the point of view of others, to be unable to be empathic of other's feelings, can lead to all sorts of inter-personal or social problems. So we also experience something indicating the limits of the "it's all in our own heads" perspective.

We experience certain potentials that we can value, potentials or principles upon which we may wish focus, understand, and increase. Some of the ways we may do so include living according to these principles and engaging in contemplation of them.

The potentials for wisdom, understanding, compassion, and healing, need not be merely in our own heads. They may also be actualized within our own minds and hearts. They may also be actualized in our external relationships with others or with the outer world.

Such good things can be seen externally. They may be seen in actions and behaviors, and in situations that happen to demonstrate such realities (things like as healing, compassion, or insight, etc.)

Exploring Prayer Life

To contemplate, to engage in contemplative prayer, orients the mind towards such principles or potentials, towards fields of manifest goodness and spirituality.

To pray with questions and words, with inner dialog, involves active interaction by asking or expressing in language that may be more logically articulated, or more emotionally specific. It may be seen as more direct because we may voice concrete feelings about specific situations, circle through our thoughts, vent frustration, raise questions, and bring up problems. What sort of interaction is such prayer? What is being interacted with?

But WHAT is it?

We already have experience of the FRUITS of such interaction with a source that is good and spiritual.

Praying to the source that draws forth such fruits, shapes such fruitful development, can be viewed in a very abstract and non-dogmatic manner. It may also be viewed in a more personal or particular manner. It may be associated with themes from specific texts, traditions, and our own insights at the moment. We may be very aware of the difficulty of comprehending the subject, or uncomfortable with specific imagery or personal notions of such interaction. Or we may be very inspired by particular symbols and figures and personally involved with particular stories or imagery.

Expanding Dialog

Attempting to expand our inner-dialog, so that it INCLUDES a greater potential than our ordinary conscious perspective, and also MORE than our personal unconscious complexes and baggage, can bring us to a sort of dialog that may expand our understanding and expression of something deeper, something that is at the core.

That 'something' at our core, is connected to whatever there may be in others that is similar at their core. These 'somethings' have a similarity, by type. Those 'somethings' are connected to processes that build up and develop and heal these 'somethings', and it all is connected to the field-of-being of these 'somethings'...

Regular Prayer as Part of a Path

By being more committed to consciously engaging in dialog... a sort of dialog that expands out toward such potential... toward the field of experience where there is manifestation of such good fruit... such commitment and conscious engagement greatly deepens a spiritual path.

As days go by, as we walk our individual paths, issues are raised that may be connected to subjects brought up in Gnostic teachings and texts. These are opportunities to engage our minds and hearts... to expand our inner dialog to reach out for insight and growth from within, insight and growth from without, insight and growth wherever such potential is available.

We can make it a point to pray for assistance, guidance, nurturing, empowerment, understanding, compassion, insight, desired-wisdom, at every opportunity.

Continual Prayer

Our lives, our paths, as we explore and experience and ask questions and grow, can become an extended, continual prayer, as the dialog is extended and deepens into all aspects of our lives.