Recently, I have touched on the subject of prayer from a practical, down-to-earth and most importantly, completely subjective point of view. I did not attempt a reliable analysis. Rather, it was a thought process — an attempt to understand the phenomenon and the attitude of some of the faithful.
Whether I like it or not, it turned out that prayer, as it is treated today, is at least ridiculous,to the greatest extend selfish and prostituted by religious organizations. It has become another source of division. I have never concealed my attitude towards the Catholic Church and others like it, so those reflections could not be impartial. However, I doubt that anyone, looking at distant, will come to very different conclusions.
Today I will try to be a little more objective. What does The Urantia Book have to say about prayer?
Definitions
Some issues, including prayer and worship, are dealt with in the Book many times and from different perspectives. From such an amount of material, it is sometimes difficult to choose one, the best definition of them; especially since in this case the Messages do not offer clear advice or easy solutions. The topic turned out to be more extensive than I expected, so I will also touch on it in the next text, where I will try to reflect what Christ Michael taught about prayer.
While the broad definition of prayer I have previously given (“verbalization towards the spirit of thoughts, longings, wishes, and fears”) will also work on this occasion, in the next step there is a problem, because The Urantia Book clearly distinguishes between prayer and worship.
However, I have not been able to find our unambiguous and sensible definition of religious worship. Sometimes it is thought of as a complement or ground for prayer, or simply as a synonym for prayer; at other times it is something like an implicit religious component, where everyone who believes in God also immediately and automatically worships Him. Worship is also called offering sacrifices and even participation in priesthood rites. Every specialist has a different definition.
The Urantia papers tell us much about worship, though they do not unequivocally define it. Instead, we can learn what worship is definitely not and how it differs from prayer. However, before I try to grasp these differences, I will refer to the Book of prayer itself and its origin.
Amen
PRAYER, as an agency of religion, evolved from previousnonreligious monologue and dialogue expressions. With the attainment ofself-consciousness by primitive man there occurred the inevitable corollaryof other-consciousness, the dual potential of social response and God recognition.
91:0.1 (994.1)
Early man, along with self-consciousness, had a kind of epiphany: If I am I, there are others, and there may even be someone else… It is this glimpse that should be considered the germ of religion and, consequently, also of prayer.
However, the former were not directed to God. The Urantia Book says that the initial prayers were more like a friendly monologue, like, “Wish me luck”. Especially, since we were completely enslaved to magic at the time. Now many still want to treat prayers as magic spells, but at that time they were nothing more. This monologue did not yet have an addressee; was a kind of thinking out loud through a magic channel. Over time, attempts were made to multiply the power of such spells by saying them in groups, together with the loved ones. This, in turn, led to the later practice of tribal prayers. The most primitive not-yet-prayers and ritual chants were magical, and some of these spells evolved over time into almost-already-prayers.
Both prayer and magic arose as a result of man’s adjustive reactions to Urantian environment. But aside from this generalizedrelationship, they have little in common. Prayer has always indicatedpositive action by the praying ego; it has been always psychic andsometimes spiritual. Magic has usually signified an attempt to manipulatereality without affecting the ego of the manipulator, the practitioner ofmagic. Despite their independent origins, magic and prayer often have beeninterrelated in their later stages of development. Magic has sometimesascended by goal elevation from formulas through rituals and incantationsto the threshold of true prayer. Prayer has sometimes become somaterialistic that it has degenerated into a pseudomagical technique ofavoiding the expenditure of that effort which is requisite for the solution ofUrantian problems.
91:2.2 (995.7)
In the early days of the development of the concept of prayer spirits, they had just such a superhuman address. Dreams of the dead convinced primitive man that there was something beyond material existence, and though this had a number of other religious consequences, prayers finally received an addressee — ghosts. This is an aspect that is also present in contemporary prayers.
However, only after the consciousness of the existence of gods was born, all requests could reach the levels of true prayer. For according to the Book of Urania, prayer is in fact a petition directed towards God; “it contains the sincere and trusting connection of the spiritual nature of the creature with the omnipresent spirit of the Creator”.
According to this simple definition, those earliest incantations should not be called prayer. Therefore, prayer is neither recitation without an addressee, nor communion with one’s own subconscious. I would be inclined to admit that prayer did not exist at all until we began to address our petitions to the gods; consequently in many cases it does not exist today.
The development of intertribal trade instilled a business spirit in the man of that time. Consequently, the early prayer took the form of a market. Just as today people prayed for health, life and material goods, but such a prayer was closer to a polemic than to a request. This quarrel with the gods was a kind of exchange, where persuasion over time and gradually was replaced by tangible, valuable gifts. If cunning in barter transactions brought tangible benefits to man, why not adapt these methods to the spirit world? That’s how we came up with the idea of offering. And this, although still as effective, is still evolving rapidly.
Man persistently and in many ways tried to put pressure on the gods. In the end, however, we had to realize that we could not force them to obey with magic spells, threats, or even bribes. We have become humble. And with us, prayer has become a search for grace and pleas for help. Instead of trying to bewitch God, mold and bribe him to get us what we wanted, we began to ask for it.
As it is conceived by successive generations of prayingmortals, the alter ego evolves up through ghosts, fetishes, and spirits topolytheistic gods, and eventually to the One God, a divine being embodyingthe highest ideals and the loftiest aspirations of the praying ego. And thusdoes prayer function as the most potent agency of religion in theconservation of the highest values and ideals of those who pray. From themoment of the conceiving of an alter ego to the appearance of the conceptof a divine and heavenly Father, prayer is always a socializing, moralizing,and spiritualizing practice.
91:3.3 (997.1)
What is not a prayer
As you can see, prayer has not changed in many aspects. Primitive man was encouraged to pray by two situations: when he was in serious trouble and when he was impulsively happy. We seemed to have left him behind us, but the inspirations “God help you!” and “Uf. Thank God” invariably and effectively lead us to contact the Creator. The forms of prayers and prayer-related rituals adapt to contemporary conditions, but the primitive perception of prayer and the hopes associated with it do not.
Reading the Messages can brutally force us to revise our concepts. The story of the birth of prayer is certainly interesting, but from a religious standpoint it is only the foundation of the sobering up which The Urantia Book affords believers.
I begin with the most obvious, and what the priests trade the most: true prayer cannot be about material things; in the Papers such petitions are even called a perversion of prayer. Consequently, prayer has by no means been, and never will be, a means of curing organic diseases or physical infirmities. Although it can indirectly, thanks to the influence it has on the mental condition of the patient, increase the effectiveness of appropriate treatment methods, it will not cure anyone on its own.
So we will not pray for health neither for ourselves, nor for our loved ones, nor for children from online fundraisers, or even for popular celebrities; We will also not pray for lotto numbers, promotions, business successes, or a won match of our national team; we will not pray for diarrhea for those who dared to get in our way, a (un)successful relationship, or the gender of the future offspring; We will also not pray for sunny holiday weather, snowfall before going skiing or rainfall during drought.
On the one hand, it is depressing, because most people’s prayers are depressing — completely material. And the clergy, invariably putting themselves in the role of wizards-intermediaries, keep reassuring us that this direction is right. It is all the worse that these prayers sound so egoistically as if their only essence were all possible varieties of “me”, “my”, “us” and “for us”.
According to The Urantia Book, prayers that are not “composed by the spirit”, those wholly material and merely self-centered, will not be answered. Simply. And it’s not even that the heavens will ignore them, no. Egoistic, material prayer dies and disappears immediately after verbalizing it – no one will listen to it, because no one will ever hear it. The “channel of prayer” that I will talk about in a moment seems to be equipped with a kind of filter, a sieve through which only that which has spiritual value passes.
While the nonselfish type of prayer is strengthening andcomforting, materialistic praying is destined to bring disappointment anddisillusionment as advancing scientific discoveries demonstrate that manlives in a physical universe of law and order. The childhood of an individualor a race is characterized by primitive, selfish, and materialistic praying.And, to a certain extent, all such petitions are efficacious in that theyunvaryingly lead to those efforts and exertions which are contributory toachieving the answers to such prayers. The real prayer of faith alwayscontributes to the augmentation of the technique of living, even if suchpetitions are not worthy of spiritual recognition. But the spirituallyadvanced person should exercise great caution in attempting to discouragethe primitive or immature mind regarding such prayers.
91:4.4 (998.2)
Any form of offering also underestimates the effectiveness of prayer. One of the early Messages of the Book says: “The affectionate consecration of man’s will to the doing of the Father’s will is man’s best gift to God; in fact, such sanctification of the creature will constitute the only possible human gift of real value to the Paradise Father”. Please pay attention to the word “the only one“. What else can a miserable man offer to the almighty, infinite Creator?
Instead, just like our ancestors, we offer him completely worthless gifts. What is better, we still maintain, and the priests proclaim it to all as the voice of truth that this is what God expects of us! Even breakneck logic, in which sacrificing oneself and one’s goods or comforts would be important, will not work here either. It’s the same, material trickery, only in a slightly different package.
Why does God need a beaten calf, an envelope full of banknotes, or the masochistic suffering of anyone? We are so primitive that we still believe that the loving and perfectly just Father dreams mainly of eating for nothing, getting it for free and seeing others have it worse? And that when he offered it to him, he would favor the donors?
Prayer never works on the basis of such a coarse exchange. Nor will ten “Our Fathers” for the forgiveness of sins, five “Eternal rests” for changing God’s attitude towards the deceased, nor a litany of “Angels of God” for avoiding the consequences of one’s own decisions.
This also applies to penance in the broadest sense. Instead of taking care of self-control; Instead of persistently developing so as not to make the same mistakes (sins) over and over again, we imagined that also on this occasion gifts (including all kinds of fasting or asceticism) or recited prayers would clear our accounts. Priests also come to our aid here. Cool, yes. I’m allowed to be the same, selfish scoundrel all the time, because on Sunday I’ll throw it on a tray, then recite poems and poof—nothing happened; they can play as before. Of course, this is closely related to confession, but this is a topic for another time. Penance, consisting in sacrifice, that is, de facto bribes, was already used by our primitive ancestors; also as a way to avoid the consequences. Unfortunately, in the current reality, greed and bribery are still in demand, so we invariably attribute to God such vile, human qualities. Give God cashand he will forget that you are dung.
All this concept of atonement and sacrificial salvation isrooted and grounded in selfishness. Jesus taught that serviceto one’sfellows is the highest concept of the brotherhood of spirit believers.Salvation should be taken for granted by those who believe in thefatherhood of God. The believer’s chief concern should not be the selfishdesire for personal salvation but rather the unselfish urge to love and,therefore, serve one’s fellows even as Jesus loved and served mortal men.
188:4.9 (2017.4)
Who are you? You are a winner!
The Urantia Books, however, maintains that even such defective prayer, though it has not and never will work as we have ever expected, does its job. Even the most selfish requests encourage the person praying to make efforts, and thus to develop. In this context, prayers become a kind of affirmation, thanks to which the believer subconsciously moves towards their realization. And when we pray for a promotion or for health, God will not get us a raise or cure us. Subconsciously, however, these requests can encourage us to change our lifestyle or motivate us to work on our career path. I wouldn’t call it a prayer, but rather a variation of the coaching slogan: “If you really want something, you will get it”. Such supposed prayers, although not always desirable from the spiritual point of view, activate.
Let us pray
God does not make mistakes. At the very beginning, when he created the rules governing the world, he did not make them either. Although we do not understand these rules, although they may seem cruel to us, they are perfectly good and, what is important in the context of this post – unchangeable.
Prayer is a request addressed to God. However, it cannot be treated as a procedure that will persuade him to adapt himself or the ordered mechanism of the universe to the whim of the person praying. It was magic that was supposed to enable us to change reality; and even God himself. Prayer only changes us. We are free to ask for anything, but the expectation that heaven will grant each of these requests is doomed to disappointment.
Prayer, in order to raise it above our primitive understanding, must become spiritual and religious. Only personal contact with the indwelling fragment of God has value here. When religion is devoid of a personal God, prayers are reduced to philosophical-theological considerations. So let’s not be afraid to talk to God; sincerely and in your own way. True prayer will always be led by the developing soul; not by the tongue. The verbalized content of the prayer is nothing more than a blurred echo of a spiritual call. God understands and responds to the attitude of the soul, not to words.
Magic does not exist, and we will not change God; but by praying with faith and confident hope, we will succeed in changing ourselves permanently. Through prayer, we can look for his will and, consequently, adapt our personalities to it. It can then become a compass on the way to achieving the most valuable goals. So let’s want to grow. Let us pray for wisdom, moral growth, and spiritual strength. Let us remember that true prayer is ethical. It will not be ethical to put ourselves above others, asking God to treat us better than theirs, nor is it ethical to seek to gain advantage or power over them. It becomes so when it has to do with forgiveness and intercession for enemies; when he seeks social and personal self-control. Let our prayers be impartial and altruistic, for as we pray, let us advance towards selfless brotherhood.
God answers man’s prayer by giving him an increasedrevelationof truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmentedconcept of goodness. Prayer is a subjective gesture, but it contacts withmighty objective realities on the spiritual levels of human experience; it is ameaningful reach by the human for superhuman values. It is the most potentspiritual-growth stimulus.
91:8.11 (1002.3)
Prayer can be an expression of longing to be a better person. It is a testimony to a sincere awareness of God, but it may contain a barely germinating need to find him. “The purpose of prayer is to make a person less thinking, but more understanding“. Prayer is not for the purpose of spreading knowledge, but for the development of insight.
From a practical, completely down-to-earth point of view, prayer can only bring (or as much as) additional broadly understood inner strength, needed for everyday struggles. Prayer calms the mind, cheers and rejoices; although it does not heal, it supports the treatment of mental illnesses. It also gives courage and perseverance. It should therefore be an encouragement to act, never a substitute for it. Prayer can encourage extending a helping hand to a neighbor, because the Hail Marys will certainly not help him. We must always remember that we influence ourselves first of all with prayer, and only with our behavior on the surrounding reality.
Prayer, even as a purely human practice, a dialogue withone’s alter ego, constitutes a technique of the most efficient approach to therealization of those reserve powers of human nature which are stored andconserved in the unconscious realms of the human mind. Prayer is a soundpsychologic practice, aside from its religious implications and its spiritualsignificance. It is a fact of human experience that most persons, ifsufficiently hard pressed, will pray in some way to some source of help.
91:6.4 (999.7)
The Urantia Book encourages us to pray as Jesus taught His disciples to pray — sincerely, selflessly, justly, and without doubt.
Effectively
If you would engage in effective praying, you should bear inmind the laws of prevailing petitions:
91:9.1 (1002.6)
1. You must qualify as a potent prayer by sincerely andcourageously facing the problems of universe reality. You must possesscosmic stamina.
91:9.2 (1002.7)
2. You must have honestly exhausted the human capacity forhuman adjustment. You must have been industrious.
91:9.3 (1002.8)
3. You must surrender every wish of mind and every cravingof soul to the transforming embrace of spiritual growth. You must haveexperienced an enhancement of meanings and an elevation of values.
91:9.4 (1002.9)
4. You must make a wholehearted choice of the divine will.You must obliterate the dead center of indecision.
91:9.5 (1002.10)
5. You not only recognize the Father’s will and choose to doit, but you have effected an unqualified consecration, and a dynamicdedication, to the actual doing of the Father’s will.
91:9.6 (1002.11)
6. Your prayer will be directed exclusively for divinewisdom to solve the specific human problems encountered in the Paradiseascension—the attainment of divine perfection.
91:9.7 (1002.12)
7. And you must have faith—living faith.
91:9.8 (1002.13)
Prayer Channel
Prayer is not what we still think. The form of such requests should be spiritual, because if they are stripped of this essence, the action of prayer is reduced to self-suggestive exhortations. Unfortunately, I cannot say what a spiritual prayer sounds like. Only true religion can give a clear definition of it.
Nevertheless, according to the records of The Urantia Book, all that “represents true spiritual values” in our prayers will be grasped by the “universal spirit-gravity circuit”. I, for easier illustration, called this circuit the channel of prayer. It is with its current that requests flow towards God, specifically to the second person of the Paradise Trinity. Prayer, like all other spiritual values and “all truly spiritualized individuals,” is found in the “unfailing embrace of the spirit-gravity of the Eternal Son.” The spirit-gravity circuit “literally draws the soul of man Paradiseward”.
But the recipients of the prayers must be further specified since they are in fact theParadise Sons of Godof theMichael order — the Creator Sons.
All formal spiritual liaison (except worship, of which we shall talk soon), including all petitions and prayers, is supervised and operated by the local universe administration; hence it does not extend beyond the jurisdiction of the Creator Sons. And while prayer is, from the broadest perspective, the domain of the Eternal Son, to the creatures of the inhabited planets of the grand universe the Creator Sons are his perfect representatives; they function just as if each of them were the original and only Son of God. This is where I would look for the sources of our common erroneous understanding of the Trinity, when we call our Creator Son, Christ Michael, the Eternal Son. For although Jesus is not really the second person of the Trinity, from a practical point of view it can be considered that he is.
However, all this, in our personal religious experience, is not important at all. It does not matter whether we pray to Jesus of Nazareth, to Michael of Nebadon, to the Eternal Son, or even to God Himself. I will say more: one key to prayer is the sincere attitude of the petitioner, that is, his intentions and faith; the addressee does not play any role.
The prayer channel unmistakably captures the real ones. Then, through it, all are immediately and simultaneously transferred to the respective divine personalities, each taking care of what lies within its personal competence. I cannot tell you what the effects of true prayer are, but The Urantia Book says that if it is ethical and spiritual, regardless of all other circumstances, it will always reach its destination. Therefore, it is not words, but motivating thoughts that give value to such requests. We do not need to know how to pray; or to whom. It is important that we do it sincerely. If something of spiritual value arises in the consciousness of man, it is enough to vent it once, for “there is no power in the universe that can stop it from being transmitted directly to the Absolute Spirit Personality of all creation.”
The Universal Father pays no attention to origin, race, or official stamps in the church archives. This is also manifested in prayer. The efficacy of prayer, therefore, does not depend on the intellect of the person praying; it does not depend on his philosophical insight or his social or cultural status. Everyone who believes in God will know how she or he should pray, and this prayer will be good. Faith itself (not to people or institutions) teaches how to get rid of selfishness and be honest with yourself. Therefore, it does not matter what we call the addressee of our prayers, or what words we put it in. Adam, in the old days of Eden, tried to teach people not to use learned prayers-rhymes. He preached that prayer should be individual and personal; that it must be “the desire of the soul”. His teaching was without success. Jesus taught the same. However, we still know better…
Worship
The worship experience consists in the sublime attempt ofthe betrothed Adjuster to communicate to the divine Father theinexpressible longings and the unutterable aspirations of the human soul—the conjoint creation of the God-seeking mortal mind and the God-revealingimmortal Adjuster. Worship is, therefore, the act of the material mind’s assenting to the attempt of its spiritualizing self, under the guidance of theassociated spirit, to communicate with God as a faith son of the UniversalFather. The mortal mind consents to worship; the immortal soul craves andinitiates worship; the divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship inbehalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul. True worship, inthe last analysis, becomes an experience realized on four cosmic levels: theintellectual, the morontial, the spiritual, and the personal—theconsciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and their unification in personality.
5:3.8 (66.4)
I cannot formulate a satisfactory definition of worship. For when prayer is the intentional verbalization of specific needs, worship is the acceptance of some silent but natural call, and then the conscious observation of the soul rushing inward; I think so.
I believe in God. And when I think about him, when I want to understand him and try to filter through the prism of what I feel, the way he is presented now, fills me with a sense of peculiar touching gratitude, supported by admiration and trusting respect. This is not gratitude, admiration, or respect that I know, although these are the words that best (at least a little) illustrate this state. Intellectually, I often doubt, but I see that feeling as an unwavering impulse of the heart. Is this worship? Is that what worship is? I don’t know.
The Urantia Book indicates that worship is “… the spiritual realm of the reality of religious experience, the personal realization of divine communion, the recognition of the value of the spirit, the assurance of survival, the ascent from the status of servants of God to the joy and liberty of the sons of God. This is the supreme insight of the cosmic mind, a reverent and devout form of cosmic prudence”. The messages are enigmaticin their own characteristic way in this matter. By the way, I suspect that spiritual realities simply cannot be described in human language.
All the arts of all the beings of the entire universe which are capable of intensifying and exalting the abilities of self-expression and theconveyance of appreciation, are employed to their highest capacity in theworship of the Paradise Deities. Worship is the highest joy of Paradiseexistence; it is the refreshing play of Paradise. What play does for yourjaded minds on earth, worship will do for your perfected souls on Paradise.The mode of worship on Paradise is utterly beyond mortal comprehension,but the spirit of it you can begin to appreciate even down here on Urantia,for the spirits of the Gods even now indwell you, hover over you, andinspire you to true worship.
27:7.5 (304.3)
Our way
What is clear from the Bible about worship?
Religious worship belongs to God and God alone. Since both the Father and the Son reveal themselves to the inhabitants of Nebadon, and therefore to us, in the person of the Creator Son, Christ Michael, in addition to receiving prayers in the name of the Eternal Son, also receives worship in the name of the Universal Father. From the broadest perspective, however, only God himself should be worshipped; directly or indirectly.
It is a mistake to worship people (both living and dead saints), objects, relics, nature or even angels. That is why I am disturbed by our still strong, primitive tendencies to worship everything that is superhuman even in religious fantasies. Worse still, the Catholic Church, as if on cue, first shamelessly fabricates miracles, and then proudly declares that the people who supposedly did them in her name are saints, and therefore worthy of divine worship; nay, we can even venerate pieces of clothing or everyday objects that they could use! Besides, as in the case of the errors of prayer, Adam and Eve also triedto extinguish this habit in us, with similar results.
We should not confuse worship with mystical states or with religious ecstasy. Worship has nothing to do with visions, dreams, or inspiration. These are not visitations, revelations or signs from God. Worship does not suddenly come down with fireworks. On the contrary, I would be inclined to say that it is personal, gentle and discreet. The Papers often speak of Jesus spending time alone “in reverent meditations”.
Prayer is indeed a part of religious experience, but it hasbeen wrongly emphasized by modern religions, much to the neglect of themore essential communion of worship. The reflective powers of the mindare deepened and broadened by worship. Prayer may enrich the life, butworship illuminates destiny.
102:4.5 (1123.5)
Worship seems to be an activity that, on the one hand, comes naturally, and on the other hand, we probably don’t even know when we really worship God. According to the records of The Urantia Book, soul growth proceeds independently of intellectual self-consciousness, but the materially finite mind may never become conscious of the “true significance of genuine worship”.
Worship wants nothing for the worshiper, nor does it ask for anything. In many ways, it is similar to prayer, which contains no desires or requests. The Father always accepts the sincere worship of his earth children; it does not matter how immature we have an idea of Him, or by what name we symbolize His nature. If, however, there is an element of benefit in worship, it is immediately transformed into prayer. Worship, then, exists for worship’s sake. I would call it a kind of meditative gratitude — wordless thanks for nothing concrete. Worship is a tribute paid to God solely for being as we understand Him. To me, it’s something like a state or active attitude of the soul, and I don’t think worship can be passive.
From another perspective, worship also proves to be an important manifestation of free will, because we decide for ourselves whether we want to worship God. Worship is therefore a choice. It is also the basic stimulus that distinguishes humans from animals. The worship reflex sprouts in response to the presence of the sixth adjutant-mind spirit , the spirit of worship. Only beings capable of making moral decisions, i.e. with the potential for spirituality, are susceptible to its influence. Only those who rise to Him can worship God. Consequently, the wisdom-driven impulse of worship becomes the source of true religion. Animals do not respond to the worship adjutant-mind spirit, and therefore they will never manifest any religious inclinations.
Worship is the highest privilege and the first duty of allcreated intelligences. Worship is the conscious and joyous act ofrecognizing and acknowledging the truth and fact of the intimate andpersonal relationships of the Creators with their creatures. The quality ofworship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as theknowledge of the infinite character of the Gods progresses, the act ofworship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attainsthe glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasureknown to created beings.
27:7.1 (303.5)
A long way
I don’t know if there is another area of religion in which we are more lost. The image of the Creator, cultivated by ossified religious organizations, is a caricature, and its defective echo is reflected everywhere. We still think of him as a materialist who will favor us under the influence of gifts; as an insult whose worries posterity give us some sadistic satisfaction; as an idiot who can be manipulated, talked over and from whom we can hide in the closet.
The faithful justify laziness and passivity with prayer; through it, they suppress irrational religious fear; it makes them feel superior to the rest. There is no need to extend a helping hand. It is enough to pray. You don’t have to work on yourself. A hackneyed penance is enough. God always supports me, he will not support them. Worship is even worse. Although it surpasses prayer, we do not even need a definition, so in fact we do not know what this word even means. This does not prevent us from worshipping everything and everyone, as long as it seems supernatural to us.
The list of offences is extensive. We pray selfishly; we pray thoughtlessly, kneeling against the wall, on which the fading paint has revealed an image resembling a holy person. We eagerly venerate the Pope, priests, relics, stones, fabrics, flora and fauna; even celebrities. We lose our heads for spiritual authorities and esoteric guides. We put them on pedestals, renouncing their dignity for convenience. Under the influence of primitive fear, but above all out of religious laziness, we willingly forget to be honest with ourselves and what we really believe. Let others tell us what to do.
We evolve. Without a doubt, a long and bumpy road is behind us. But with only what The Urantia Book says about prayer and worship, can we call ourselves civilized people? Surely we are as different as we think from our, seemingly ancient, ancestors? Let us pray; let us worship the Creator with gratitude, but let us also cool down our pride. There is an even longer way ahead of us.
PS; Revealed
We have a weakness for rituals. Maybe it is religious laziness, maybe it is overzealousness, but we’ve probably always been like that. Certainly this way was centuries ago, even before the outbreak of the Lucifer rebellion, when the Planetary Prince Caligastia was on earth.
It was the task of the Prince’s staff to support the natural evolution of the race. In order not to disturb it, revelation was avoided. However, the population insisted and asked that some form of religious rite be introduced to them; they needed it. Caligastia’s helpers thus made available to the inhabitants of the capital the ceremonial songs, the phrase of praise, and the first prayer which may be termed revealed. It read as follows:
Father of all, whose Son we honor, look down upon us with favor. Deliver us from the fear of all save you. Make us a pleasure to our divine teachers and forever put truth on our lips. Deliver us from violence and anger; give us respect for our elders and that which belongs to our neighbors. Give us this season green pastures and fruitful flocks to gladden our hearts. We pray for the hastening of the coming of the promised uplifter, and we would do your will on this world as others do on worlds beyond.
66:5.15 (747.5)