By Rev. Lauri Boyd, Minister, Unity of Columbia, MO
The experience that we call prayer is a universal human experience. Whether we are burdened with fear or sorrow, or our hearts are overflowing with joy, we have this instinct, when things go beyond our human capacity to process, that there is ‘a something more’ that we can turn to. It matters not whether we conceive of this ‘something more’ as a being, a living energy, the force of nature, or the Infinite Unknowable Source of all that is. In our times of greatest joy or pain, we have an overwhelming desire to commune with it – to become consciously aware of our Oneness with it. And we call this experience of communion and Oneness “Prayer”.
In my experience, I pray in different ways depending on how grounded I am feeling in a particular moment and on the deeper need motivating the encounter. In my study of prayer, I learned about a model in which there are four levels of consciousness which influence how and why we pray. I will call these levels “Praying to God”, “Praying for God”, “Praying with God” and “Praying from God”. Continue reading When I Pray
