Contemplation and Intercession

I have started a prayer group within the intentional community I am associated with. Still a monk at heart I am aware of my obligation to pray for others. It is natural for me to want to combine the contemplative and intercessory aspects of prayer, and have experimented with how to accomplish this over the years. The journey has helped me live a miraculous life. The following, some may find helpful in this regard.

The Physical body can be likened to a sheath or covering for the soul. The physical body of course dissolves at death. Please consider that there are other sheaths or “bodies” we can become aware of with little effort. There is the energy sheath revealed under Kirilian photography – which when fully rehabilitated, is possibly the resurrection body. There is the emotional sheath, which reflects our life essence – ideally as love. There is the mental sheath where we come to full understanding and a spiritual sheath, which is timeless eternal Joy in the awareness of our unity with the Divine.

Each body has a preferred state of functioning in Life-Joy. This “life joy under all conditions” is the meaning of “Blessed” in the Beatitudes.

My personal formal meditation practice continues to evolve and now revolves around these five sheaths and their combined joys which together I call the Five Body Bliss of Inner Lovers, having
10 steps (and a secret 11th) to master. I have yet to teach this meditative process to anyone. Below however is an abbreviated adaptation of my practice to the art of intercessory prayer. I offer it for your consideration.

The five embodied blisses & intercession:

· First, offer a short prayer of your choice, or as I say; “Bismillah” - In the name of G-d.
· Get the idea of touching them to start. This can be a simple resting of the hand on their shoulder, or on the place where it hurts, or a hug or cradling them in your arms. Follow your intuition as to what is appropriate and sense this as comforting even pleasant.
· Whatever the condition or situation, get the idea “it’s only energy” and energy can change form, and move from stuckness to flow. If you can, stay with this until the situation seems less “solid” and/or you feel a sense of “release” within yourself. Your own “felt sense” is a feedback mechanism.
· Extend love and/or light dissolving everything, even the very form of the person, the condition and your self into a radiance at/in the heart. Stay with this as long as you like. You may find it delightful. Though I am not much for words, I may say “I love you” at this point.
· Dream a short “waking dream” of some beautiful resolution to the problem. The details of the resolution are less important than the sensing of its Beauty as Harmony, Order, Elegance, the wonderful, etc.. Beauty taps the highest intuitive function of mind.
· Get the idea of smiling inside and let all thoughts dissolve in a smile of pure joy. Get the idea of increasing this joy to the highest level you are able in the moment. In time this smile may open up into a spontaneous bliss of G-d’s Blessing/Blesedness.
· Let go completely and faithfully let G-d do what is needful. Become a blank slate upon which the inspiration of the Holy Spirit may write.
· Retrace quickly the steps from Joy back to Beauty, back to Light/Love and allow this light to condense into new energy patterns as you come back to the felt sense of touching the person again.
· Remove the hands of your imagination as you give thanks & amen to G-d.
· Move on to the next prayer request and repeat the process.

This is my current approach to what I call contemplative intercessory prayer.

PS If doing this for oneself it is probably best to “imagine” your condition in the second or third person.

© Arjay 2009