The following of growth in Prayer derives from Sufism... With the first ‘Allah hu akbar’, they put the world and all its inhabitants behind them. With the second ‘Allah hu akbar’, they forgot the hereafter. With the third ‘Allah hu akbar’, they cast the very thought of anything other than God out of their hearts. With the fourth ‘Allah hu akbar’, they forgot even themselves.
The is a beautiful experience - if we may call it that - of Prayer, which few grow to enjoy. The best way I can put this into words is that Prayer is just happening, or another way, Prayer is Praying - or God Prays. What lovely Grace is felt when there is no you separate from Prayer, from Grace: You are Life. This is not a state of mere trance - which many mistake for Union with Grace, or God. You are aware of the self as part of the Whole, possibly like the self being away from the Center that is aware of the self - that is, You are aware of the self - when, usual awareness is self-awareness, not awareness of the self. Self-awareness is transformed from the center by the Center. The realized man or woman is not essentially self-aware, but lives aware of the self and is the Center. We cannot even Here speak of awareness of the Center - the Center takes all into Itself, for all is already of and from and in the Center. That is the Creator, beyond life and death.
