By Brother Carl Sternberg
In MyDesert.com
There are always some people who say that with the world in such a mess, why do you spend so much of your effort in talking about the importance of spirituality and prayer.
You promote "being" above "doing," imageless prayer above discursive thinking. How can you be indifferent to the plight of millions who are in horrible straits?
The answer that I would give is simple yet illusive. It is in silent prayer that we get the courage to honestly look with new eyes at the many issues that face our world.
Meditation can lead to a profound conversion like that of the Good Samaritan in the Christian scriptures who picked up the poor traveller who was injured on the road.
Prayer opens the heart to compassion for every human being who suffers. In prayer, we gain the enlightenment and wisdom to see problems at their roots without the spin that comes from varying ideologies and the media.
Prayer can liberate us from discouragement and sadness that often come when undertaking great tasks for a better world. Prayer can even give us joy in the midst of seeming failure and patience to endure even when real success might not come in our life time.
Having said all of this, the right brain cannot deny the benefits of the left brain. Silence needs words, darkness needs light, negation needs affirmation, unknowing needs knowing, intuition needs reason, mysticism needs theology, the feminine needs the masculine and yin needs yang.
When we can get beyond egotistical motivation and seek the good for its own sake, all aspects of the human personality can be brought to bear on the problems that face us with ever increasing engagement. We look to the influence of a Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was her prayer life, even without consolation, that informed her to care for the poorest of the poor and eventually reach out to the world.
Let me conclude with the observation that it is more important to change hearts than to change systems. This happens in a mysterious way through the love that manifests itself as the result of prayer.
In MyDesert.com
There are always some people who say that with the world in such a mess, why do you spend so much of your effort in talking about the importance of spirituality and prayer.You promote "being" above "doing," imageless prayer above discursive thinking. How can you be indifferent to the plight of millions who are in horrible straits?
The answer that I would give is simple yet illusive. It is in silent prayer that we get the courage to honestly look with new eyes at the many issues that face our world.
Meditation can lead to a profound conversion like that of the Good Samaritan in the Christian scriptures who picked up the poor traveller who was injured on the road.
Prayer opens the heart to compassion for every human being who suffers. In prayer, we gain the enlightenment and wisdom to see problems at their roots without the spin that comes from varying ideologies and the media.
Prayer can liberate us from discouragement and sadness that often come when undertaking great tasks for a better world. Prayer can even give us joy in the midst of seeming failure and patience to endure even when real success might not come in our life time.
Having said all of this, the right brain cannot deny the benefits of the left brain. Silence needs words, darkness needs light, negation needs affirmation, unknowing needs knowing, intuition needs reason, mysticism needs theology, the feminine needs the masculine and yin needs yang.
When we can get beyond egotistical motivation and seek the good for its own sake, all aspects of the human personality can be brought to bear on the problems that face us with ever increasing engagement. We look to the influence of a Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It was her prayer life, even without consolation, that informed her to care for the poorest of the poor and eventually reach out to the world.
Let me conclude with the observation that it is more important to change hearts than to change systems. This happens in a mysterious way through the love that manifests itself as the result of prayer.
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