Quote:
Originally Posted by navysteve  William Q. Judge, who was one of the founding members of the Theosophical Society dedicated alot of writing to prayer and meditation. He divided meditation into two sorts: "First is practiced at a set time ( more like a ritual, a few have mentioned here about prayer becoming rote and I definitelty agree that merely setting aside time for the ritual of prayer can become quite meaningless). Second is the meditation of an entire lifetime, that single thread of intention, intentness, and desire running through the years stretching between the cradle and the grave." This second type is the one I am interested in. Striving to have every waking moment with selfless contemplation of the divine, whether doing dishes or performing your life's occupation; knowing that your every decision is informed from the standpoint of love and devotion to the ultimate principles in life — that is working with nature and not judging her or trying to change her path. (Judge)
We hear in the rooms alot that prayer is us talking to God and meditation is listening. And in an elementary way I believe this is true. But when I am living in harmony with all things ( and I have moments) my life is an adoration of all things divine. I lose the sight of prayer when I seek concrete tangible results. I had shifted my focus of prayer when I came into the rooms. My prayers went from God get me out of this jam, to God remove this defect. When I boil these two sets of prayers down, they become the same selfish thing. I like what Bill says in the twelve and twelve on step 2 :
Sometimes it's because God has not delivered us the good things of life which we specified, as a greedy child makes an impossible list for Santa Claus. More often, though, we had met up with some major calamity, and to our way of thinking lost out because God deserted us. The girl we wanted to marry had other notions; we prayed God that she'd change her mind, but she didn't. We prayed for healthy children, and were presented with sick ones, or none at all. We prayed for promotions at business, and none came. Loved ones, upon whom we heartily depended, were taken from us by so-called acts of God. Then we became drunkards, and asked God to stop that. But nothing happened. This was the unkindest cut of all. `Damn this faith business!' we said.
"When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not; defiance.
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This is some good stuff Steve.
Bill said it would be easy to be vague about this subject, and I agree, we are vague about it in AA. I was just saying to a friend last night that it is such a shame that most of us don't pay much attention to our inner lives, and that about all you hear in meetings is what you said Steve-that prayer is talking and meditation is listening. It has been hard to find spiritual direction in AA. So far most of it, at least for me, has came from non-AA's and non-AA sources.
A few of my mentors have been AA's though, and one of them said one time, I think we were talking about the St. Francis prayer, "Be the prayer." I think this lines up with the passage you quoted Steve. I've had brief moments and glimpses of that. Not nearly enough, but enough to know what the man who wrote that meant.
Jim