The Soul’s Sincere Desire
I had to read this a couple of times and am glad I took my time with it…
“To know and to love God directly is to come to know what we are. All true Christian prayer also presupposes the further step, that there are things He will have from us and that some of our responses are true and authentic responses to His love and others are not. Prayer is an attempt to get ourselves into that active co-operation with God where we may discern what is authentic and be made ready to carry it out.
With our increased knowledge about the continuous reorganization of life that goes on in the depths of the unconscious, the impressive definition of prayer as the soul’s sincere desire has appeared. In this sense the fearful person prays by his acts of withdrawal, of cringing, of brooking, of distrust; and the person of faith prays by his or her openness, freedom, readiness to take risks, trust of the future. Both pray by these acts even though they are not conscious of them as prayer. There is a large measure of truth in this interpretation. For many forms of prayer do send down into the unconscious positive imagery, positive resolutions, positive incentives to action. And these forms of prayer would willingly recognize that these elements operate within the unconscious to aid, and to bring into fruition in the life of inward desire what is begun above the threshold of consciousness, what is intentionally and consciously sought after in prayer. Yet since this deep unconscious intention of the soul is able to be reached and affected by consciously directed intention, prayer in this sense becomes not merely the soul’s sincere desire, but prayer is the process of intentionally turning the focus of the soul’s sincere desire upon the active nature of the Divine Love and by every device with its power holding it there until it becomes engaged.”
~Douglas Steere
“To know and to love God directly is to come to know what we are. All true Christian prayer also presupposes the further step, that there are things He will have from us and that some of our responses are true and authentic responses to His love and others are not. Prayer is an attempt to get ourselves into that active co-operation with God where we may discern what is authentic and be made ready to carry it out.
With our increased knowledge about the continuous reorganization of life that goes on in the depths of the unconscious, the impressive definition of prayer as the soul’s sincere desire has appeared. In this sense the fearful person prays by his acts of withdrawal, of cringing, of brooking, of distrust; and the person of faith prays by his or her openness, freedom, readiness to take risks, trust of the future. Both pray by these acts even though they are not conscious of them as prayer. There is a large measure of truth in this interpretation. For many forms of prayer do send down into the unconscious positive imagery, positive resolutions, positive incentives to action. And these forms of prayer would willingly recognize that these elements operate within the unconscious to aid, and to bring into fruition in the life of inward desire what is begun above the threshold of consciousness, what is intentionally and consciously sought after in prayer. Yet since this deep unconscious intention of the soul is able to be reached and affected by consciously directed intention, prayer in this sense becomes not merely the soul’s sincere desire, but prayer is the process of intentionally turning the focus of the soul’s sincere desire upon the active nature of the Divine Love and by every device with its power holding it there until it becomes engaged.”
~Douglas Steere
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