"Pray without ceasing"
"Pray without ceasing" was an urging from an early Christian leader to the people he was addressing. We might adopt this for our time as well, no matter what our spiritual perspective happens to be.
Here's what it means to me in this day and age... of 2012 and beyond...
Rumi has said in translation, "Once you wake up, do not go back to sleep." Once we wake up to the larger picture of an inclusive and connecting Life Energy, we will never forget it... yet we sometimes get a bit drowsy and negative thinking creates doubts. We fall into trances of seemingly being 'lost' and 'asleep' again... but there is a difference, since we have the memory of wakefulness somewhere within us... we have the feeling of home-sickness that calls to us from deep within our soul...
As we wake...let us do our best to stay awake... let us be mindful of the larger picture and connection...let us "pray without ceasing"...
Praying suggests a communication with 'God' or the ever-present Life Energy and Source out of which all form emerges. We are urged to stay tuned in and keep the communication lines open to the One Source of all Life.
"Without ceasing" means to me to remain awake, aware, and alert. I means to live life fully and as authentically as possible, no matter what our spiritual practice or life philosophy.
We tune our energies to the higher frequencies of Unconditional Love, Acceptance, and Inclusion and walk with a Respect for All of Life, including those who may hold different thoughts for whatever reason. "Pray" is a call to focus with our spiritual sight and heart... to commune with the totality of Being... A reminder to us... not to ask for things from an overindulgent sky parent, but to open our hearts and minds and our whole being to the One Source that really counts... with a grateful heart each and every moment... "without ceasing"...
So, with apologies to St. Paul of the Christian tradition, who in another time and place perhaps may have been referring to some different theological concept of who 'God' was/is, shared this 'admonition' to his readers: "Pray without ceasing." I echo his words as a reminder to myself and to all who may have similar wishes to stay awake... "do not go back to sleep."
I would urge us all to walk through each day with a mindful awareness and in that sense to pray, not with clasped hands, but with open arms embracing Life, without ceasing...
