Prayer in its Many Forms
Prayer In Its Many Forms
Types of Prayer • The
Qualities of WaterPrayer • Prayer
and Water • Prayer
and Meditation
• Communion •
Are
the Glasses Important? • A Word about
Our Language • Beginning: Reconnection •
Deepening Your Experience • Progression
and Growth
Types of Prayer
Commonly, when people pray, there are usually four ways of praying:
• A colloquial, or 'talking to God' process;
• A petitionary, or 'asking God for things' kind of process;
• A ritualistic, or structured process based on repetition of formal prayers learned in your spiritual education; or
• A meditative, or silent or contemplative form of prayer that is an inherently 'reflective' process.
Some have suggested that there is a 'fifth mode' of prayer, where in the state of prayer, the one praying learns to bring the wished for outcome of the prayer into their thoughts, feeling, and intentions in the moment, right now, as they pray. The prayer process involves being open to imagining an experience of being transformed by the act of prayer. So when I pray, the prayer is more likely to be 'actualized' if, in the process of prayer, I am feeling, or even imagining, how things would be different if the prayer becomes true—and I must imagine this from within myself—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In this mode, I don’t pray for something, I don’t pray to become anything, I simply reach within to connect to a quality inside myself that I wish to live out more deeply in my life.
WaterPrayer is a form of this mode of prayer. It is a process that helps us prepare for, experience, and then focus our intention and our energies to support a positive way of being in the world. It is not a way to ask for a present, a boon, or a favor, but a way to expand our consciousness and foster a connection to spiritual qualities. These qualities already lie within us and wait to be awakened by our intention, our focus, and our invitation. When we pray, we are asking to bring that quality into our thoughts, to feel in our hearts where that quality lies within us, and to create the intention to carry that quality with us in our daily lives. The power we awaken with us is the power of our thoughts and feelings to create our reality. It also acknowledges that Good is created by small acts, and that great good is possible when a number of people making those small acts have the same goal, the same intention, the same good in their hearts.
WaterPrayer also acknowledges the fact that Prayer is not a passive process. You don’t just get to pray for something and be done with it—it takes active, energetic participation to make it happen. In other words, if you pray for Acceptance or Understanding, your responsibility is to stop judging yourself or practice the wisdom you possess. If you pray for kindness or healing, your task is to create those acts in our daily life that resonate with the quality in the prayer. WaterPrayer is a process by which we strengthen our intention to think, feel and act in ways that value our life and the lives of those around us.
WaterPrayer is not a substitute for religious prayer.
It is not intended to compete with any beliefs, disciplines, or practices
that already hold meaning for you. It is intended, rather, as a way to
supplement and expand your experience of the power of Prayer.
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The Qualities of WaterPrayer
The spiritual qualities that we have chosen to put on our glasses are universal energy patterns that improve the qualities of our lives. They are feeling states, they are energetic patterns, they are powerful thought forms, and when expressed, they are acts of compassion and healing. We have chosen four fundamental spiritual qualities that form the basis of many paths of spiritual development. These are the qualities, that when felt and expressed, transform the energy body, open the heart, and change our perception of the world. These qualities are:
- Basic Trust
- Acceptance / Forgiveness
- Understanding / Wisdom
- Love / Compassion / Kindness
Each of these qualities has many different aspects, and the prayers
that we have provided will help you connect to the aspect that
is most important
to you. Focusing on these qualities, bringing them into your body
and your heart, will open doors and create a greater vision of yourself
and the universe around you.
Trust is the capacity to feel confident about living in the world. With trust, we sense our own inner power and well-being, and are able to take a non-judgmental and flexible attitude toward the events in our lives. We become unattached to outcomes and have no need to control or intimidate others. With trust, we come to feel that we will be able to create a life with safety.
Acceptance is the widening of our vision so we have the ability
to see more of the world without distortion or misinterpretation.
Acceptance
means that you see something and know it for what it is, without
having the need to change it. Acceptance does not mean 'approval',
or that
you
condone what you see, only that you see the whole picture. With
acceptance, we can more easily experience balance, forgiveness,
and harmony.
Understanding is the capacity to experience the wisdom and knowledge
we have inside us, and move beyond an emotional reaction to events
into making correct, reasonable, and meaningful decisions. With
understanding, we seek to comprehend our experience, to bring ‘all we know’ to
situations and events, and learn to act with both compassion and
intelligence. Understanding forms the basis for our accomplishments
in life and the
expression of our accumulated wisdom.Love is a state of being.
Love allows us to relate to the world in a forgiving, empathic, and nurturing way, and requires us to live fully from our hearts as well as our minds. Where understanding helps us discern particulars, love allows us to connect to wholeness. Love strives to connect to the essence of another with an unconditional, unchanging reverence for life. Love is expressed in thousands of ways, universally across cultures.
Prayer and Water
Prayer is as old as our desire to communicate with something larger than
ourselves, and as new and recent as our hunger for spiritual peace in
the midst of a turbulent world.
Prayer is also a process, whereby we seek to shift our awareness to a
kind of broader context, a deeper understanding, and a new way of acting
and being.
Prayer is a way to shift our perspective on life. In our prayer practice
we to learn to identify what spiritual qualities we wish to embrace; we
invite those qualities into our energy system and our physical body; and
we strive to live those qualities daily.
Whether to God, prophets, other types of sentient beings or for causes
and hopes dear and desperate, prayer is a tool that helps weave us into
the great fabric of the Universe.
Water is truly one of the most remarkable substances in the Universe.
It is the most precious and sacred substance you can bring into your body.
In chemistry, it is called ‘the universal solvent’ because
it dissolves more substances than any other liquid.
Water forms 72% of our Planet’s surface. It forms about 60% of our
overall bodies’ weight; it is about 70% of our brain’s weight,
and about 90% of our lungs’ weight. Pure water is neutral, neither
acidic nor basic. It is a perfect ‘carrier’ for substances.
Water holds the memory of everything that it comes in contact with, and
because of that, it can be imbued with energetic and sacred qualities
that enhance our life, improve our health, and bring us into connection
with the larger universe of spirit. WaterPrayer is a
way to blend these special attributes of water with our intent to communicate
with spirit.
Prayer and Meditation
We believe prayer and meditation are on a continuum of spiritual experiences. We differentiate between them in that we see prayer as a somewhat more active or initiatory process and practice. There is a level of 'reception,' or 'non-initiation' in both, certainly. But prayer seems more of an active energetic relationship. Both, obviously, are quite valid expressions of reflection and growth.
A Word About Communion
The WaterPrayer process resembles in some respects the sacrament of Communion
in the Christian Church. Communion is a word that has come to be associated
with a particular practice in Christianity, but in fact it is a very old
and holy tradition across many disciplines. The word comes from Latin
roots that mean ‘mutual participation.’ The act of ‘communing’
is one of partnership, of sharing, of equal contribution. While many may
conceive of Communion as an opportunity to participate in and receive
God’s Grace, in fact it is also a challenge: a challenge to those
who participate in the sacrament to rise to a point where we seek to embody
and exhibit the same behaviors and qualities of Jesus. In Christianity,
communion has aspects of cleansing and absolution that are visible in
Islamic traditions of prayer preparations, and in Judaism in the Pharisaic
ablutions.
Communion is one of the primary sacraments of Christianity. A sacrament
is sometimes described as ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward
and spiritual grace.’ This applies to any ritual that is observed
and symbolizes the seeking and attainment of a ‘spiritual change’
inside of us. In virtually every spiritual discipline, however, similar
rituals exist that connect 'communicants' with a physical symbol of a
spiritual quality, identity, or representation.
Are the Glasses Important?
Prayer is powerful, no matter how you pray or what you use as an aid in
visualizing the effects of prayer. Our WaterPrayer glasses are simply a
tool, a way of enhancing the effectiveness of prayer. Use them if, and as,
you like. Think of them simply as ‘containers’ for your prayers,
as a way of visualizing them more powerfully. And think of the water as
a ‘carrier’ of the prayers, so that as you drink the water you
are ‘drinking your prayer’ and allowing it to come into your
body fully, to be carried all the way throughout your physical being.
A Word About Our Language
Prayers should be addressed to whomever, or whatever, you want: in a sense, to the source you believe is most able to receive, participate in, and act on, your prayers. For many people, this is “God” or one of the many names associated with a Supreme Being. For others, the concept of the ‘God of Our Hearts’ holds meaning, as it reflects the very individual and personal relationship we have with God. We have used ‘God of My Heart’ as an indication and out of respect for this personal relationship. Use whatever ‘salutation’ holds the most meaning for you.
The word ‘Amen’ comes from the Hebrew verb aman,
which means ‘to strengthen’ or ‘confirm.’ It is
often loosely used to mean, “So be it.” It is an important
way to close a prayer, but again, this is a very personal choice, and
you should use a word that holds the most personal meaning.
We offer the prayers on this site as a starting point. They can be repeated as a part of a spiritual discipline, but you should feel free to change them or to write your own as a way of deepening your own experiences.
Beginning: Reconnection
Have ever had an experience through prayer where you felt something inside yourself or around you change? If so, remember that experience. Look through the list of prayer subjects above and choose the word or concept in our WaterPrayer products that is similar to the word or concept that formed the basis of prayers through which you have had that transformative experience. Use that experience as a guide; repeat the prayer process using WaterPrayer glasses and see if your personal experience is any different: any deeper, any more interesting, any broader, or that leads to any new emotions or spiritual truths coming to you.
Praying is an act that changes us, so if you have this deeper experience, it means that you have ‘gone deeper’ into the prayer state. You are experiencing prayer throughout your body in a new way.
If you have not had such an experience, or are new to prayer, either pick a word that feels important to you, or choose a ‘foundational’ word or concept. A foundational word is a state that other states in part depend on. In other words, I may want to show more kindness in my life, but I must be willing to be open to it—and to the places where I am not kind. I may want to exhibit compassion, but to really successfully exhibit compassion I must do it from a place of acceptance and peace inside myself, or else I may ‘project’ feelings and experiences onto the person in need of my compassion, diminishing the benefit of a compassionate act.
Deepening Your Experience
If you tried the step we suggest above, and found that you had a new or deeper experience, then pick a word from the prayer subject list at the top of this page. Use that word in your prayers, and see if that experience—built upon the experience of your previous prayer discipline—leads you to any new and important feelings, perceptions, insights, or experiences.
In the process of praying, we also offer some specific suggestions about deepening your experience about each of the WaterPrayer qualities. Click on a link below to see each example (requires popup windows).
Help me deepen the experience of TRUST...
Help me deepen the experience of ACCEPTANCE....
Help me deepen the experience of UNDERSTANDING...
Help me deepen the experience of LOVE...
Progression and Growth
It is possible to imagine that the values, qualities, ‘states’, aspirations, and conditions are place on a kind of continuum, or spectrum, of experience, energy, and power. That is to say, to be able to ‘carry’ the energy and inention of compassion I must know and understand that Acceptance is something I must experience first. So I can feel compassion, but to more fully experience the capability of compassion I may need to review, or experience, some degree of states or conditions that compassion is ‘dependent’ on.
Use the sequence of the words and concepts on our WaterPrayer Experience page to ‘move between’ the different states, and to build on the experience each word-Prayer gives you to more deeply feel and ‘hold’ the energy of the following word. So start with Acceptance. Then pray about Willingness, then Trust, and then Peace.
