The ritual.....
A man went into a bar and ordered six whiskies.
He then drank the first,
the third and the fifth glass leaving the second, fourth and sixth untouched .
When asked why he did that, he said that the doctor told him he was allowed to have the odd drink.
We can always find a way around a rule, a law, an advise.
We make it a ritual, a way of life to escape commitments.
The ritualistic person can be a cunning person. They can be with the ritual, but remain untouched by it.
They can do the ritual but not be transformed by it.
Prayer can be a ritual , most are not aware how to pray or even that they are part of the ritual.
This is why so many pray for change, but remain the same.
Millions of people praying,
with no fragrance in the prayer, no love, no compassion,
no flow.
Something's wrong.
They are being done
because they have to be done.
It is ritual, it is duty, a pretense.
The cunning person keeps the heart out of anything they do.
Empty gestures.
Always a loophole for escape.
The basic problem is not ignorance, it is knowledge. Ignorant people are not cunning, only knowledgable people are clever enough to be cunning.
We have to become ignorant again.
Consciously ignorant.
To be knowledgable and unaware is to be unconscious.
When we become conscious,
we become enlightened, aware, we are full of light.
The whole effort of knowledge is to investigate the mystery of life. The man of knowledge does not destroy the mystery,
he simply closes his eyes to the mystery until it is proven.
The man who knows he is ignorant, has started knowing, this is the point of consciousness.
A five year old boy gave a loud whistle In the middle of a sermon in church.
The Minister stopped and asked the boy why he whistled?
"I have been praying to God to teach me how to whistle and God answered me just now."
The childs prayer is to learn how to whistle, someone else for money, for romance, some one else to be prime minister.
All ask for the ego.
For some importance,
some superiority.
Few ask for nothing.
Real prayer does not ask for anything.
Real prayer is just thanking The Divine for what we have, for what we have already been given.
My prayer is for you and yours.
May you all be guarded and guided.
Nathan
Sent from my iPhone and
http://www.dharmamaster.com
With love
