Dynamics of Prayer

O My Servant! Obey Me and I shall make thee like unto Myself. I say 'Be,' and it is, and thou shalt say 'Be,' and it shall be.

            (Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys: 63)

Intentionality by faith claims, along with other spiritual traditions and forms of Intentionality, that we are co-creators of our reality.  Jesus said to a man “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (The Gospel According to Mark 2:23-24)  In the Dhammapada we read where the Buddha is reported to have said: “We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts we make the world.”  Baha’u’llah points out: “All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition. Your own acts testify to this truth.” (Gleanings: 149)  But, again the difference between intentionality by reason and imagination and intentionality by faith, lies mostly in an emphasis upon who is doing what.  

Reason and imagination state that humans are the intenders, cooperating with the universe, the unconscious, or some nebulous Universal Mind, in the sense of giving it work to do, namely, to realize a clearly visualized desire.  Intentionality by faith, however, lays the emphasis upon the work of divine power.  We ask the divine to confirm or realize our desire. What is the difference, one might ask?  It seems the same process, cooperation with greater powers.  But here is the difference that makes the difference.

If we conceive and name the greater power the unconscious, or Universal Mind, or simply the universe, we are actually "cooperating" with a product of our own thought and imagination, not with a power completely independent of us.  In this case, we are the creators, and we put our faith in something that we created, or do not really know in itself, but name it.  This is, for me, the wrong way around; for whatever we may say about it, we have "unconsciously" put ourselves in the place of God, but a god who can not realize his own desire.  It is contradictory--at least to me.  Because we are powerful beings--remember the universe is folded within each of us--many intentions can be realized this way.  But Intentionality by faith, as I think of it, has a definite and independent Power in mind to put one's intention.  It is not a power that we conceive and name, but a power that conceives us!

The Universal Mind for Baha’is is the Mind of the Manifestation of God.  Baha’u’llah wrote: “If the wayfarer's goal be the dwelling of the Praiseworthy One (Mahmud), this is the station of primal reason which is known as the Prophet and the Most Great Pillar.  Here reason signifieth the divine, universal mind, whose sovereignty enlighteneth all created things—nor doth it refer to every feeble brain.” (The Four Valleys:52)  ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “But the universal divine mind, which is beyond nature, is the bounty of the Preexistent Power. This universal mind is divine; it embraces existing realities, and it receives the light of the mysteries of God. It is a conscious power, not a power of investigation and of research….This divine intellectual power is the special attribute of the Holy Manifestations and the Dawning-places of prophethood; a ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, and a portion and a share of this power comes to them through the Holy Manifestations.” (Some Answered Questions: 218)

The power of real faith was stated by Jesus: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (The Gospel According to Matthew 17:19-20)  But it is not us that is moving the mountain, but our faith that God may do it.  On the relation between faith and human reason, George Townshend wrote: “'Abdu'l-Bahá once said that Reason was the throne of faith; in another place he likened Reason to a great mirror looking into the heavens but reflecting no image because it was in darkness. Faith, he said, was like sunlight which enabled the mirror to see and to reflect all the heavenly truths that lie before it. These symbols express exactly the Christian and the Bahá'í view of Reason and Faith, but not the view of traditional orthodoxy which is a purely human concept.” (Christ and Baha'u'llah: 53)

            There is no doubt that, regardless of which form of Intentionality that we prefer or use, we are far more powerful than many believe that we are.  I believe that our greatest power comes from cooperation, using reason, imagination, and faith, with the divine intent.  If we are in harmony with the Will of God as expressed in His Revelation, we can be assured of untold power coming to our assistance.  How powerful can we become?  The promise of Baha’u’llah on the increased creative power that accrues to any individual engaged in spiritual transformation has been the leading quote for most of the posts on Intentionality.  O My Servant! Obey Me and I shall make thee like unto Myself. I say 'Be,' and it is, and thou shalt say 'Be,' and it shall be. (The Four Valleys: 63)

            That is a powerful promise, and its realization is via the key word “obey.”  This does not mean a blind and slavish conformity to whatever is in scripture or to what self-appointed interpreters of such scripture say that It says.  It means, I think, to obey—a word meaning “to hear facing forward”—His way of looking at and relating to the world and the Divine.  No better primer of intentionality by faith, of how cooperating with divine intention works, can be found than Shoghi Effendi’s The Dynamics of Prayer.  His instructions on how to solve problems and meet challenges were recorded in Ruth Moffatt’s pilgrim’s notes:

First Step. - Pray and meditate about it. Use the prayers of the Manifestations as they have the greatest power. Then remain in the silence of contemplation for a few minutes.

Second Step. - Arrive at a decision and hold this. This decision is usually born during the contemplation. It may seem almost impossible of accomplishment but if it seems to be as answer to a prayer or a way of solving the problem, then immediately take the next step.

Third Step. - Have determination to carry the decision through.  Many fail here. The decision, budding into determination, is blighted and instead becomes a wish or a vague longing. When determination is born, immediately take the next step.  

Fourth Step. - Have faith and confidence that the power will flow through you, the right way will appear, the door will open, the right thought, the right message, the right principle or the right book will be given you. Have confidence, and the right thing will come to your need. Then, as you rise from prayer, take at once the fifth step.

Fifth Step. - Then, he said, lastly, ACT; Act as though it had all been answered. Then act with tireless, ceaseless energy. And as you act, you, yourself, will become a magnet, which will attract more power to your being, until you become an unobstructed channel for the Divine power to flow through you. Many pray but do not remain for the last half of the first step. Some who meditate arrive at a decision, but fail to hold it. Few have the determination to carry the decision through, still fewer have the confidence that the right thing will come to their need. But how many remember to act as though it had all been answered? How true are those words -"Greater than the prayer is the spirit in which it is uttered" and greater than the way it is uttered is the spirit in which it is carried out. (Principles of Baha’i Administration: A Compilation: 90-91)

            Next post will sum up this long exploration of Intentionality.