Linda Martella-Whitsette - How to Pray Without Talking with To God: Moment by Moment, Choice by Choice

Copyright 2011

by Linda Martella-Whitsett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Hampton Roads Publishing. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Cover design: Jim Warner

Cover art: Henry De Lattre's Cazique (Delattria Henrica), 1861, by John Gould. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Copyright Academy of Natural Sciences / SuperStock.

Author photo: Janne Aubrey

Interior design: Dutton & Sherman

Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Charlottesville, VA 22906

Distributed by Red Wheel / Weiser, llc

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN: 978-1-57174-668-9

MAL

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America

Beloved reader,

My deepest desire is to expand our awareness of All That Is one of my favorite names for god. Chances are you have a favorite name for god. Chances are you have opened this book because your awareness of god has expanded beyond religious conventions. Perhaps you, like countless others, are leaving your church, temple, synagogue, or mosque in disillusionment. Maybe you are filled with knowledge based upon your religion's teachings about god, all the while longing to experience god. Maybe you are ready for a concept of god that is unconfined by dogma and an experience of god that is intimate as well as expansive.

My deepest desire is for each of us to realize all that god is, we are. Although to some readers this may appear an outrageous, even blasphemous, assertion, to me it is the key to affirmative prayer. god cannot be diminished when a person asserts her Divine Identity. To the contrary, god appears bigger, brighter, and more glorious when we bring into visibility the invisible god. The importance of Jesus Christ, the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and spiritual masters of all ages does not diminish by an individual's assertion of his Divine Identity. Rather, we honor them for their achievement of god-consciousness, and we accept their guidance about how we too might live as visible evidence of the invisible god.

As you read this book, I uphold your highest intentions. I celebrate your Divine Identity. I appreciate your deepening realization of Divine Power revealed in prayer. You and I have no greater work to do in the world today than to pray. May our wonderful world benefit from our rising divine consciousness.

Linda Martella-Whitsett

1 Corinthians 3:1617

Words and methods of praying are informed by our understanding of Divine Nature. Understand Divine Nature and your Divine Identity.

S itting on a deck above the Guadalupe River, I was enjoying the gurgle of the water below and the intermittent chatter of the wildlife around me. I felt centered on that spiritual renewal retreat, content on my third evening away from the demands of daily living. Then a deep human voice intruded from the porch next door. My neighbor was speaking to someone on the telephone, becoming louder by the minute. He said something about God. I listened. Next thing I heard: I've been praying about your diabetes for two weeks. It's gonna work. I know it. God's gonna take care of it.

Having been a student and a teacher in a New Thought denomination, I was surprised that I felt surprised by this well-intentioned man's statement. But I knew my way of understanding the Divine Nature and my way of praying could be seen as blasphemous to this kind man. I believedand continue to believethe Divine Nature is not a person who cares how people pray. In fact, prayer researcher Dr. Larry Dossey confirmed in experiments that any form of heartfelt praying makes a difference. Yet, it mattered to me that my neighbor seemed to be gambling regarding his friend's healthblowing breath into his hands holding the dice, saying This time it's gonna work. I know it.

I blessed that other person, the person on the other end of the telephone line, and the situation. I was cool. And then I went to a gathering of colleagues, or maybe I listened to another New Thought church's podcastI can't remember exactly what I did next. But I do remember what I thought: I was surprised again to hear people who had studied what I had studied saying Dear God, thank you for this; help us with that. I wanted to shout, Stop talking to God! god is not a superhuman!

Little children, concrete thinkers that they are, believe what they see. They see someone in a Santa Claus costume as proof of Santa Claus's existence. When my son, Adrian, was two and a half, a neighbor came to our house in a Santa suit one evening after Adrian had gone to sleep. I went into my son's room to rouse him just as Santa was walking up the stairs, jingling all the way. Before Adrian saw Santa, he heard the bells. From that night until age twelve, much later than most other children, Adrian knew Santa was real because he had heard sleigh bells.

In the years after Adrian recovered from disillusionment about Santa, he found a new delight in the holiday season. He realized the spirit of Santa Claus is the spirit of giving, loving, and caring. He could embody the Santa spirit even though he no longer believed that mythical man actually existed.

Eventually everyone realizes that Santa Claus is not a superhuman. god is not a superhuman either.

Sooner or later, every child must grow up. Everyone must become self-sufficient. Those who do not mature live out their lives handicapped by dependency. Sooner or later, I believe, everyone must evolve in spiritual understanding and claim divine self-sufficiency. All spiritual masters have done so, even as they credit the One Power that is inclusive of their humanity as well as greater than it. Those who do not mature spiritually feel powerless and dependent upon a divine parent they must plead with and please.

Come along with me, and I will share with you my evolving understanding of Divine Nature. While I describe my experience, I invite you to tune in to your own unfolding understanding.

As we begin, notice two variations of the printed word God. Throughout the book, God is used in quotations as well as when the Divine is personified. god is used to highlight an understanding of the Divine as All That Is, not a person but a power.

For many years, I believed in a God I had to plead with and please. From early childhood through my teens, I thought of God as physically out there, as an unseen parent, and specifically as an unseen male parent. I could ask God for help but never could hear him talk to me; God could see me, but I could not see him. God was an elusive superparent, far away from me but watching me and holding all the cards.

Bible stories from my childhood reinforced this notion. God was, I learned, the cause of all human experience, especially human suffering. Everyone I knew believed in the God who would not show himself to us and caused car accidents, diseases, and death. God had all the control and wielded it, like the Wizard of Oz, from behind a curtain.