Tag Archives: Prayer

Mysticism and Mystics

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Some take-aways from a recent weekend retreat/workshop on Mysticism:

We are all called to be Mystics in the world today. Actually many of you already are and don’t recognize it. Mystics come from all belief systems, all stages of life, and all parts of the world. We know many of them because they have left us writings. From some of them we can find the components for a Mystical life, identified in the workshop as Prayer, Self-Knowledge, Participation in the World, and Union with God.

It begins with PRAYER. Prayer is the beginning and continuing focus in our desire to draw closer to God. Praying from the heart and not just the head is a call out to God, so prayer, whether in quiet or as you move through your day, is a beacon to God. Words are not necessary. Sometimes I just bow my head and think, “Father.” It’s a huge prayer for me. Contemplation, Meditation, or Centering Prayer is important for a mystical life, but whenever your focus turns to God, it is prayer.

Mystics SEE GOD IN ALL—in PEOPLE, EVENTS, and all of CREATION. When we recognize God in everyone and everything, those things begin to look wondrous, amazing, and even miraculous. This changes not only what we look at, but it moves our hearts to a new place. Nature is a powerful teacher of this one. And I love the quote, “When you change the way you look at a thing, the thing you look at changes.” (Wayne Dyer)

St Teresa of Avila, a Mystic and Doctor of the Catholic Church, says if you would know God, know yourself. Mystics are real people who learn to trust their OWN experiences of God. Yusef used to tell me that. The way we know God and share God with the world is individual to each of us. Be yourself. Each mystic I have studied was different. That’s the way God works through us.

Mystics don’t isolate in a cave. They live in the world, doing what they are called to do with the gifts they have been given. Many were/are activists in their own way—never doubting their call from God to care for others (or the environment). All the events in our lives are invitations to share the mystic’s love. The mystic gives him/herself away, and asks, “How can I BE LOVE in my world?” And they aren’t afraid to speak up. They pray, then act from God’s inner guidance.

Union with God is merging our hearts and minds with the heart and mind of God. This is the “ultimate” for a mystic, sometimes attained while on the earth.

There is much much more, but perhaps this brief introduction and overview causes something inside you to stir. It is God. It is my calling to invite you to move from your head — the worries, concerns, and daily tasks in your life—to your Heart where you will meet your divine Self, and from that place you will bless the world.

Presence as Prayer

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What you term “prayer” need have no formal form or words. Your PRESENCE to the Heavens is all that is necessary. By presence we mean your body, mind, and spirit in conscious AWARENESS of God.

To be aware, you must be out of your (thinking) mind. That is, the mind that is list making or otherwise telling you what to do or where you must be. That is your ego/human self being present to the world. 

Step out of your thinking mind. Move deliberately into your heart space, the God Mind. This is truly WHO YOU ARE—one with/connected to the Divine. You will find this connection when you leave your list of “to dos,” and center yourself to be PRESENT to God in your heart. You will know you are “there” when you feel an immediate sense of peace.  

Once you have made that conscious connection, you are in prayer. The lists and programs of the world fall away and you and God are fully together in conscious awareness/Oneness. It need only take a second in your time. BE PRESENT to God. The heavens will rejoice!

Yusef

Guidance From Yusef

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Remember that what you see and hear, taste, smell, and feel, are the senses giving your mind and body input. It is joyful because you are a physical being, but it does not awaken or give input to SPIRIT which is who you are.

Spirit is awakened by silence (prayer or meditation), by opening to Other (God), by going beyond the senses of the body to BE in Divine Presence.

You are presence, Spirit. That which cannot be identified through the senses. Yet every bit, and more so, your spirit is reality compared to the world of senses. 

Be still, awaken, and remember who you are.

Yusef

Guidance From Yusef: Prayer—Communicating beyond the mind

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Yusef reminds us that the “state” images-31we are in when praying or meditating or performing spiritual exercises is what allows us to transcend our humanness and our thinking mind to be in a true state of Universal thought, or the Mind of God.  Setting aside our human thinking seems to be the most important action to take.  It is then that we can be open to a connection to God.

YUSEF:

It is only through transcending the human mind that real communication, communion with All That Is, takes place.  The [thinking] mind is helpful for so many things on the Earth, but it is not helpful or useful in this.  The [thinking] mind tells the stories of Earth.  Beyond this mind is another story.

There is a difference in simply being in the moment as you say, and being open in your Spirit-self to commune.  This is intentional.  It is a setting aside of the humanness to communicate beyond the mind.  And yet there is also an unintentional openness that allows a breakthrough from the Heavens to Earth.

What you refer to as prayer could well be called openness.  This is very beneficial, to be in this state, whatever form it may take.  It is the STATE that allows the communication.

Guidance From Yusef: Prayer

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There are many ways to connect with God.  images-27We use words like prayer (of all kinds and types), worship, meditation, liturgy, ritual, etc. There have been volumes written about prayer, yet it’s possible you’ve not heard prayer called simply THOUGHT before.  So, it must be a specific type of thought—thought beyond the mind’s normal thinking.

Prayer then is a specific, different way of approaching the Divine.  Prayer comes from a state of love, gratitude, and/or praise. Yusef tells us that prayer is sharing ourselves with God.  Imagine that being in “prayer” is being with God in love, gratitude and praise. And the more who join in, the merrier!

YUSEF:

Your thought—what you call prayer—is beneficial to humans and the Earth.  In actuality the entire Universe and beyond is aware of prayer.  It is much underestimated and undervalued in growth producing benefits.  It also need not be formalized or ritualized. 

When each lives in love and constant gratitude and praise, when each is joined to each, the amplitude resonates at a different frequency.  As many join in, drawn by the sharing of self with All That Is, the heavens resound with the color and sound and frequency of Love upon Love upon Love building in intensity and joy.  This “energizes” souls and is felt throughout creation.  Pray.  Open your hearts to one another.  This benefits all.