How to Pray for Other People
Question:
Is there a method of praying for individuals? I feel guided to hold certain individuals who are on my heart in the light, seeing them free, flooded with peace and light, complete and “one,” having escaped the illusion of duality. Is there a more powerful way one might pray for another who has not become aware of the error of duality?
David Hoffmeister:
Your “focus” is in the “right direction” in the sense that the experience of forgiveness dissolves the belief in “another” entirely. The form of prayer that might be called “praying for another” is a form of charity. Charity is seeing a brother or sister as much farther along than they appear to be in time, and so charity is a time-related reflection of Love. The Oneness of Love is a Universal State of Being that is Eternal, therefore Oneness transcends time entirely.
The Absolute Oneness of Love can have no opposite, and the belief in private thoughts and private minds—separate individuals—IS the belief that Love can be broken apart and divided up. The prayer of our heart is to feel and experience the Oneness of Love, and the witnesses that are called forth shine as a reflection of that prayer. The mind sees or perceives what it desires, and as our desire becomes purified and single, our perception becomes healed and whole.
The aim of meditation might be stated as emptying the mind entirely of erroneous thoughts and beliefs so that not one seeming “scrap” remains. The aim of prayer might be stated as knowing the Will of God as Eternal Oneness. Prayer and meditation in their early “forms” are seen as means to the “end” of Enlightenment, or Salvation, yet in the Present Moment they are but ways of describing the flow of the Spirit. It is helpful to ponder these ideas:
“When I am healed I am not healed alone.” W-137
“My mind holds only what I think with God.”W-pI.rIV.in
“Love has no opposite.”
Truth is true and only Truth is true.
Means and ends vanish in the experience of Oneness, for What Is takes no time to experience.
I love You forever and ever,
David