It was the first day of the War in Iraq. The women gathered around the dining room table were eating and conversing in sad, muted tones. A gathering of humanitarians, philanthropists, activists and peacemakers, they couldn’t believe the news that war had begun. Some had friends and relatives in the military — worry lined their faces. Others personally knew people in Iraq and the Middle East, having visited there time and again for humanitarian reasons. Their friends’ lives were in jeopardy. All of the women felt hurt, sad, lonely. The hostess for the gathering lamented: "Leave it to me to plan this for the first day of the war!" And other sad exclamations from around the table: "I feel like a failure." " I didn’t do enough to prevent this war." They had gathered for a women’s retreat, and I was hired to be their facilitator. It was mighty tempting to spiral down there with them — I too felt sad, and more than a little bit frightened by the war’s prospects. Yet, there was also some amount of excitement brewing inside me, a feeling that there was indeed a bigger picture to this whole mess than what was apparent. I replied to their statements: ‘"Yes, our gathering was planned for the first day of this war. Being the humanitarians you are, the true peacemakers, how could the timing be any more perfect?" and "This is not the time to lie down and give up, declaring yourselves personal failures for not having prevented this. The war has begun. True. And now your work is needed more than ever." The rest of the weekend was powerful and healing. We did healing ceremonies together; group prayers were offered up. The women clarified and committed to their roles in the tumultuous times ahead. The sadness and tension never quite abated, but the gathering provided solace for us all. Now, months later, the war is over, yet the world is in more turmoil than ever. For those of us who want to be part of changing this place for the better, it can be discouraging to be in the midst of what looks like a planet-wide breakdown. To put it bluntly, are we, any of us, really making a difference? Do our prayers, our meditations and our ceremonies help? In order to answer that, it’s useful to examine some common and not so common perspectives: The world, as most of humanity knows it, is viewed from an ancient and abiding concept: We see ourselves as separate. You from me, dark from light, male from female, my race from your race, warriors from peacemakers, my country from the rest of the world, and so on. The perception of separation has a strong hold on our personal realities. Of course I am separate from what’s not me! Yet, we often suffer for this perception. For instance, if I am alone and separate here on this planet, then it must be true that the effect I am having on the world is miniscule at most. This means that if I meditate or pray, for example, it only has a limited effect within the vicinity of my life and myself. In that scenario, the benefits of meditation would be contained to creating some personal inner peace, a bit of stress reduction, and some healing in my own body — and that’s all. Yet this limited view is quite far from actuality, because we are not as separate as we might believe and accept: Dr. Larry Dossey, M.D. examines the power and purpose of prayer in his, Healing Words. In the numerous studies sighted in his books, the effects of praying for another entity were validated time and again. His personal view of how prayer might work is in the introduction: "…prayer is a genuinely non-local event — that is, it is not confined to a specific place in space or to a specific moment in time. Prayer reaches outside the here-and-now, it operates at a distance and outside the present moment. Since prayer is initiated by a mental action, this implies there is some aspect of our psyche that also is genuinely non-local. If so, then something of ourselves is infinite in space and time — thus omnipotent, eternal, immortal." The implications of his work and other pioneer studies into the effects of thoughts, consciousness and prayer on our lives is that we do indeed have the power to affect change. A small part of the world, mainly each of us, can affect the whole of planet. A model for this is to see us as the organs, cells and other functioning parts of an infinitely large body. We are, in essence, one body; yet we are also separate parts within the One body. When a part of a body experiences a breakdown, the other parts are aware of the breakdown to a certain degree. Consequently, when one body part experiences health, then to a greater or lesser extent the whole body experiences health. Looking at the world scene, we seem to be in the throws of our separate-ness now more than ever. No matter what side of a hot issue one is on, no one feels like they’re on the winning side. Yet, we have to remember we are still affecting our reality. Oh yes. And more and more of us are becoming conscious of that. In a way then, more members of the planetary body are becoming aware of the individual’s effect on the whole body. As an individual human being growing in consciousness, you are contributing to planetary health. When we meditate or pray as a group, the ramifications are magnified — it’s as if a larger organ in the body is coming into wholeness, and the body is responding positively to that input. Here’s a tip about group prayer: keep your prayers simple, allowing your Higher Selves to inform you. Pray for the awakening of humanity. Or pray for peace in people’s hearts. Pray for worldwide health. Pray for compassion to reign. Praying against something will have a negative affect on the whole: when a group prays against something or someone, they are actually praying for the illusion of separation to continue to rule our world. They are praying as one organ in the planetary body against another organ in the body, sending out feelings of ill will, rather than health or wholeness. Picture an organ in your own body, say your heart, noticing that your liver is malfunctioning. Can you imagine your heart praying against the liver’s existence? I don’t even have to describe the possible consequences of such a request. So pray for the other, rather than against. Pray for their freedom, pray for their health, pray for their light shining more and more each day. Your prayers and meditations are having profound effects on a world that cries out for healing. Open yourselves to the possibilities of peace and freedom and love, world-wide. The light produced from your energy output is like a stone dropped into the pond of humanity’s consciousness. Ripples of love are sent out — and somebody somewhere is catching the wave. Elke Siller Macartney is an inspirational speaker and author who prays for world peace often. Information about Elke can be found at <www.auralady.com>. |