The Purpose of Prayer and Meditation

The purpose of meditation is to make conscious contact with God*. The intention is to feel God's presence. This feeling presence of God is a feeling of of peace, love or joy in meditation and can also be felt as a quiet state of humility and gratitude. The opening prayer is the invitation for God to come and it can be as simple as "God come". The use of prayer through out the meditation is to keep our thoughts on God, instead of our problems or material concerns, and to keep the mind from wandering. The closing prayer is to give thanks and to affirm our intention to express our spiritual nature as we go about our day.

What is Divine Will?

Divine Will or God's Will, is the manifestation and expression of the Divine potential within you. It is the expression of spiritual qualities and manifestation of a spiritual life. Ideally, it is the alignment of our thoughts, perceptions, words, feelings, actions and intentions with our true spiritual nature.

The Seven Levels

There are the seven areas where we ask God to replenish and revitalize our souls with spiritual consciousness. We are not aligned with God's Will when we are blocked or restricted with the energy of the ego and personality (Self Will). All we have to do is ask God to remove the blocks, and open the channel to restore us with spiritual awareness and the light and love of God's presence.

                     1) SPIRITUAL MEMORY - The first level is the center of memory and identity. Spiritual memory vs. ego's memory. Spirit identification vs. body indentification. The focus is to remember that we are always connected to Spirit. The most important memory is that we are connected to Peace, right here, right now. To be in the present moment with that Peace, so that we can be reborn and recreated. We ask God's Grace to heal, cleanse and replenish us by removing the blocks and self-defeating programming from the past and erase our memories of pain. It is the miracle and blessing of total forgiveness. God's Grace does erase the past. We ask to forgive our mistakes and the mistakes of others, painful memories, old beliefs, old patterns. These are our triggers. Our painful memories cause us to react from fear and anger.

                     2) DESIRE - INTENTION - The desire of our soul for peace and spiritual growth is manifested here and can be blocked or restricted by any selfish desire or motivation. Desires of our ego include the desire to change other people or situations, selfish ambitions, or the desire to retaliate when we are hurt. We ask God to remove our selfish desires and replenish our spiritual motivation and the desire to love unconditionally. The ultimate motivation is for spiritual growth, to live our divine purpose, to express our creative talents and serve God and humanity.

                     3) ACTIONS - The blocks and limitations caused by our self will are power struggles and control trips. Any conscious or unconscious manipulation to have "my way", "my plan". We ask God to remove the blocks and open the channel to God's Will, God's Plan, and allow the Divine Principle to flow through us and our lives with Divine Timing. This is the center of courage; courage to act or not to act; it is spiritual patience and divine right action. Spiritual empowerment is felt when we align our wills with the Divine Will and manifest right action.

                     4) FEELINGS - EMOTIONS - The limitation of joyous energy in our heart center is caused by our negative feelings: fear, insecurity, worry, anger, resentment, depression, blame, shame, guilt, self righteousness, judgment, etc. We ask God to remove the blocks, as we release with our breath, and replenish our hearts with the feelings of peace, love, joy and serenity. Humility and gratitude open the heart.

                     5) EXPRESSION - COMMUNICATION - Divine Will expresses through our voice and words, whether they are silent or spoken. We are in our self will when we communicate unloving expressions: sarcasm, criticism, arrogance, unkindness, dishonesty. We ask God to remove the blocks and open the channel to communicate love, honesty, kindness, appreciation and praise, both verbally and silently. Even the tones of our words can be positive, uplifting and encouraging.

                     6) THOUGHTS AND PERCEPTION - Our minds can be limited by doubt, confusion, negative thinking and misperceptions of our ego. We ask God to remove the limitations and open the channel to Divine wisdom and guidance. To recharge us with intuition, clarity and vision. We ask for a deep knowing of the Divine Will and the strength to carry it out through the right choices and decisions.

                     7) CONNECTION - The seventh level is the conscious connection to the infinite flow from our source, our Higher Power (you can call it whatever is true for you: Supreme Being, Universal Spirit, Holy Spirit, God, Divine Energy, Divine Creator....) . We ask that our connection to our Source be restored and strengthened and that anything which restricts our trust and faith and connection, be removed. We ask to be an open and willing channel for the Divine Will.

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Mana and "Ha", the Breath of Life

       The Hawaiian prayer consists of planting a seed (ano ano) of thought and nourishing it daily with Mana. The connection to Mana is with the breath, called "ha". Mana is the essence of spiritual energy which resides in everything, an invisible, vital energy, a silent force permeating all of nature. Mana is a sense of higher power flowing through all living things. It is in everything....people, plants, rocks, trees, the mountains, the valleys, the ocean waves...even thoughts and words carry Mana. Each prayer is offered by gathering Mana by taking several deep breaths.

       Each inhale is an invitation to our spiritual source. Each exhale is a release to Mother Nature to recycle negative energy into positive energy, just as carbon dioxide is recycled into the oxygen we breath. Mother Nature can assist us in our meditations.

       Mentally picture something in nature to absorb the negative energy being released as you exhale. Visualize the beach, the ocean, a tree, or green plants all around you. To meditate is to recharge our souls, our spirits, our internal energy, just like charging a battery. Our batteries first need to be discharged by letting go of negative feelings, tension, worry and stress in order to be properly "charged". These energies are often subtle and unconscious, but we need to release negative energy before we recharge with Mana. We begin the meditation with a long, slow, cleansing breath, a "Let Go" breath and then a "Let God" breath. This technique of breathing with the intention of "Letting Go" and "Letting God" is used at each level as we release the Self Will and invite the Divine Will to restore us

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* Please substitute a word for a Higher Power that resonates with you. A word that you feel comfortable with. These are other words used to describe God - Spirit, Universe, Spirit of the Universe, Creative Intelligence, Divine Intelligence, Universal Mind, Holy Mother, Divine Mother, Heavenly Father, Father of Light, Almighty, Power, Divine Energy, Divine Love, Life Force, Cosmic Energy, The Force, Presence of Peace, Presence of Love, Holy Spirit, Divine Power, Unlimited Power, Power of Good, Force of Good, Infinite Power, Creative Power, Creative Energy, Creative Intelligence, Great Spirit, Great Reality, Great Mystery, Creator, Divine Mind, Divine Life, Divine Truth, Sacred Truth, Truth, One Love, One Light, One Spirit, One Power, One Presence, Inner Being ....and there are more, find a name that works for you.