Prayer, etc.
© 2002
>> So I'm thinking what happens when people pray to other people...? a living or dead one...? <<
When we pray to a person, it's to ask for something we want. We assume that the person we are praying to can somehow intercede with a higher power and thus garner the attention of that higher power for us. In effect, we are still praying to the higher power, but we are praying to a lower manifestation of that higher power, a more human manifestation.
Psychologically, it's like picking up the telephone and dialing instead of shouting out the window and hoping someone two cities away will hear us. In other words, it empowers our confidence and faith in the idea that our prayer is being heard.
The human mind is a very powerful force and a very complex thing. When we utter a prayer, we are stating an inner need. The mere act of stating a need and asking for assistance is transformative. It places us into a new relationship with our need and sets in motion the circumstances necessary to the meeting of our particular need. When we add to this the focusing of attention and emotion that is part of prayer, then the statement of need is even more powerful and even more transformative at the personal level.
Prayer is primarily self-healing. But prayer can also be an act of magic that transforms more than just the own self. It can also be the mental and emotional impetus that causes physical change, no different than a "volt" or a kabbalistic utterance. The effectiveness of any prayer depends upon the strength of the supplicant's concentration and passion. If these are very strong, then the prayer will eventually cause physical changes beyond the mental and emotional changes inherent in the act of prayer itself. In this case, the changes stem from the mind of the supplicant, not from the force or person to which one has prayed.
Although this is the most common consequence of prayer (i.e., self-healing), it is not the only way in which prayer can be effective. Prayer can also garner the direct attention of non-physical entities. In such a case, the self-healing effect of prayer is amplified by this
other entity.
>>Sometimes I can feel that someone is thinking about me, sometimes when I was praying for someone, such a person felt that I was doing this… And second thing - can we call somebody's attention by just speaking his/her name aloud (or even mentally)..? <<
This depends upon two separate factors. #1 is the mental power of the one projecting their thoughts and #2 is the receptivity or sensitivity of the subject of those thoughts. For instance if I simply say your name it's most likely that you won't sense my thinking since my thought would have very little mental energy behind it. But if I were to concentrate upon you intensely and then utter your name with the strong intention that you will notice, then odds are you'd notice. Whether or not your noticing would be at a *conscious* level then becomes the question. This part would depend more upon your own sensitivity
than on my mental energy.
A thought, once it's been thunk, has a life of its own in the mental realm. Most thoughts have a very short duration and have little individual impact since most human thought is invested with very little power. But when a thought is *consciously* given mental power, it can exist and be active within the mental realm for a considerable span of time. Or when a thought is dressed in emotional power, it can have a great and long lasting impact.
When an empowered thought is focused upon an individual it naturally seeks out, or gravitates to, the mental sphere of its subject. This is due to the nature of the mental realm itself where *commonality* and *alikeness* are the primary differentiating factors. In other words, within the mental realm, "like attracts like".
>> So can we drain energy from just thinking about someone...? <<
No, not as a purely mental act. In order to drain the mental energy from someone, you must drain them at an emotional (astral) level or at a physical level. But here you are draining more than just mental energy and the mental drain is a side-effect or by-product of draining the astral or physical energy. In other words, you capture of individual's mental energy as part of the denser energy of emotions and physical matter.
The reasons for this are rather complex. As I said, within the mental realm itself, like attracts like. This precludes "draining" since to drain something you must establish an opposite to which the subject is attracted. Sort of like a high pressure system and a low pressure system in the atmosphere -- when they come into close enough proximity, they attract and the low pressure vortex drains the higher of its atmospheric pressure thus generating wind currents. This "opposites attract" factor is most prominent within the physical realm and is about 50-50 in the astral realm that mediates between physical and mental. So it's only at an astral or physical level that such a draining can occur.
For example, some of the best therapies for a troubled mind are laughter and physical exertion. And one of the best therapies for depleted mental energy is physical rest (replenishment) mixed with emotional nurturing.
>> Let's look at the saints - there were people. What about gods, goddesses, deities, etc...? They still exist in the Mind of the ONE… so where is the border..? Because the Unity, the ONE, is on the other side of the border… can we really cross this border...? And if yes - at which point..? Does the merging with deities really prepares you to merge with the Unity..?? Again - deities exist WITHIN the ONE, so how is a human being capable to cross this border...? <<
Oh dear! Now that's one B-I-G question!!! ;-) Instead of repeating myself and writing a way-too-long post, I'll direct you to my commentary on Step Ten of IIH (Mental and Astral sections). In my book, it's pages 121 through 132. Or you can find it on my website at: http://www.abardoncompanion.com/IIH-Step10.html
>> When a person chooses dissolving into Unity, does such a person exist as a part of it, or just ceases to exist..? <<
"Dissolve" is a deceptive term since it implies a loss, yet I can think of none better. What is dissolved is one's focus at the individualized level of Self. However, this does not mean that the individualized self ceases to exist. Merging with Unity occurs at a non-temporal level (i.e., eternity) and is non-sequential. Even though the *attainment* of Unity occurs *at the temporal level* within a specific moment of time, it instantly becomes an eternal thing since it is an experience that occurs within the eternal realm itself. It isn't something that happens one day and that's it. It happens *outside of* time and space and therefore effects all of time-space, forever.
From within the eternal, non-sequential realm (the "other side" of the Abyss), one views the whole of infinite time-space as a single entity. In effect it becomes a discrete or "closed" infinity. The infinite whole of it exists eternally. From the eternal perspective one can see any point in the time-space continuum or, equally, ALL points within this continuum.
In the same way that our own physical bodies serve as the vehicle for our soul and spirit and are inseparably interdependent (without our physical body, there's no need for an astral body and the mental body cannot remain a