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Garden Tulip
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The Sage was asked, "What is prayer?" "Being here, now with you," said the Sage. To which came the reply, "But are not prayers spoken?" "Yes," said the Sage, "but prayer remains unspoken." Finally, the man asked, "And how can prayer be being with me?" The Sage spoke, "All being-with is prayer, for being-with is love, and love is prayer."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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What is to be done to pray? Waking up to see the person before you as another revelation of Life. There is no point of separation in this total seeing - there is only one subject present. To see the other is to see yourself.
So, first, prayer is not saying prayers. Prayer is, first, being, and being is always being-with, for presence reaches out for itself in the appearance of the other. This presence is the same presence the other essentially is - all else is decoration. Prayer is communion, so prayer is love.
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Hence, all objectification of the other is a step away from prayer, regardless of how one may offer prayers for the other. Yet, in the simple act of unconditioned awareness, prayer is and happens. So, to truly pray, as well as to truly offer prayers for anyone, is to be present. This being present is so much more than sharing a nearness of body or mind; being-with entails sharing heart-with-heart beyond any requirement of conjuring up a particular feeling of religiousness, devotion, or love. In the absence of all such, one is, for we each and all are.
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2022.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox, and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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