How Rewriting a Prayer Helped Me Experience Non-Duality
Part of my experience and practice with A Course in Miracles has been a growing awareness of what duality and non-duality are, how the language of duality has been the way I’ve experienced the world since birth, and how non-duality is the nature of Reality.
One of the truths of non-duality that is hardest for me to experience is the truth that I am not separate from God. That nothing and no one is. That Reality is simply all “God is”.
As I come to experience and accept this, I’m noticing how duality abounds in words and that small corrections and shifts in language reveal more about non-duality to me.
For example, a prayer I learned in my local Unity church is called the Prayer of Protection. (http://www.unity.org/resources/articles/prayer-protection)
I have found this prayer helpful when I’ve felt worried, troubled, or frightened— I’ve usually said it at night, bundled up under the covers, trying to get to sleep, wanting to turn off the light, but nervous and scared of the dark.
The words of the prayer are:
The light of God surrounds us;
The love of God enfolds us;
The power of God protects us;
The presence of God watches over us;
Wherever we are, God is!
The prayer often worked to help me fall asleep, like a sort of lullaby. I visualized the light, love, and power like a cocoon. I trusted in this “other” presence to watch over me. I believed that God was present right then and there, a separate being, keeping me safe.
As I’ve moved into more awareness of non-duality, which is showing me that in truth I am not separate from God, and can never be, a slight shift in the words of the prayer occurred to me:
The light of God is me;
The love of God is me;
The power of God is me;
The presence of God is me;
Wherever I am, God is!
The words surround, enfold, protect, and watch over, all describe the actions of an external and separate self. Removing them removes the separation from God. To be clear, the “me” in the prayer is not the little ego of the person I am here in this world. The “me” in the prayer is the “everyone” that A Course in Miracles describes as the “sonship”, or the Son of God. But even this creates a duality of “God” and “me”. If God and “me” are one, do I need both?
Going even further, I tried writing it as:
The light of God is;
The love of God is;
The power of God is;
The presence of God is;
Wherever God is, God is!
This revision, without the “me”, feels the most authentic and non-dual to me. It illuminates the nature of non-duality to me. There is simply “one” in Reality. I experience deep peace in my mind when I remove anything that separates me from God. I have an experience of the Biblical phrase “In God I live and move and have my being.” (I had no idea where in the Bible this came from and Googled it — it’s from Acts 17:28.)
Sitting with this revised prayer, I feel open and unafraid. There’s no need for a defense or protection any longer. No need for a cocoon any more. When I simply accept that God is, what else is there?
In his book On Writing Well, William Zinsser wrote: “Writing is thinking on paper; anyone who can think clearly can write clearly.” I wrote this so I could look at my thinking and see if I was thinking clearly. I published it because I wanted to share my thoughts and experience.