Conversations
The truth about prayer
Catch a conversation between Mark Bennett and Darren Ball in a short video series on dynamic prayer, what it’s really about and what you can bring into your own spiritual practice in order to become a better channel for spiritual energy.
Click the video below to play
Prayer is not, in essence, some kind of supernatural thing where you ask a mythical God for a favor… It’s about channeling an energy – channeling universal energy – and directing it outwards, conditioned by love, to bring about some kind of a positive result.
[Darren] How does prayer actually work?
[Mark] Well, I think to understand how prayer works the most useful thing is to look at what prayer is not.
Prayer is not, in essence, some kind of supernatural thing where you ask a mythical God for a favor which he, or maybe she, then decides – or not – to answer according to some strange psychology that we don’t really understand.
Prayer is actually a very natural thing. It’s a higher form of nature. It’s a higher form of science. It’s a kind of science that our science on this planet has not yet reached. But one day it will.
Prayer is in essence about energy. It’s about channeling an energy – channeling universal energy – and directing it outwards, conditioned by love, to bring about some kind of a positive result. Exactly what this energy is, we don’t really know. We don’t really understand it that well, but we can all experience it. And anyone who tries something like The Twelve Blessings as a way of sending energy out to the world will sooner or later feel and experience this energy as a very real thing.
Anyone who tries something like The Twelve Blessings as a way of sending energy out to the world will sooner or later feel and experience this energy as a very real thing.
[Darren] What would you recommend to someone who wanted to become a better channel for energy in the way that you described?
[Mark] The most important one of all is your desire and determination to do good. In other words, it’s your feeling; it’s your passion. Praying without passion is pointless, really, or virtually pointless. Prayer is the song of the soul. And, when the soul sings you should sing as passionately as you possibly can; as expressively as you possibly can. You don’t have to be loud or dramatic, necessarily. In fact, it might be better if you’re not, because sometimes you can express the real feelings in your heart without needing that kind of drama. But really whatever it takes to get that feeling out; to really mean it; to really think about every single word you’re saying.
For example, when you pray… when you say a prayer that begins “Oh Mighty God, Who is the Creator of All Things“, think about the fact that God really is mighty and really is literally the Creator of All Things. Because it’s easy to just say “Oh Mighty God, who is the Creator of All Things“, and you mean it, and you believe it, and you might say it quite intensely but are you really thinking about the fact of the mightiness of God as the literal creator of everything in manifestation? And I think when we start to do that – it’s very difficult – but when we start to do that at least a bit more than we do now, then it adds a certain quality to our prayer.
[Darren] Yeah I can see… In my own experience, I can see how that would be a step forward. You’re embodying that belief almost in that moment and bringing that into your prayer rather than just an intellectual understanding of it.
[Mark] It actually reminds me of the Chinese character for sincerity is literally “words become”. In other words, being sincere is when your words then manifest as something in actual fact, rather than just being empty speech. And that’s very, very true in prayer.
[Darren] So what is the role of words in prayer?
[Mark] There are two types of words. There are words in a language you understand and words where it’s only about the sound, really. There may be a deep meaning behind the sound but it’s primarily about sound. So that’s mantra, where it’s the sound that counts more than the words, well more than the meaning of the words, in terms of people of our level of evolution – so not a very high level – radiating spiritual power.
The Twelve Blessings though of course, is in English, and the English is very beautiful, very poetic but it’s not that difficult to understand, at least on a basic level. So, I think the purpose of the words in a prayer are really to focus the mind of the person praying. Or, that’s at least one of the most important reasons for it, because if you just stood in silence radiating spiritual energy for a minute or two I think with the best will in the world that your mind might wander a little. Whereas if you’re saying words, it focuses the mind.
[Darren] Is it that… or is it fair to say that the words are helping you to impress that quality upon the energy that you’re sending out?
[Mark] I think that the words themselves are not that important. It’s the meaning of the words that then, if you are feeling and believing and thinking that meaning when you’re sending out power, then you’re going to condition the energy in that way. You need to understand the words to help you to condition the energy.
It’s the meaning of the words that then, if you are feeling and believing and thinking that meaning when you’re sending out power, then you’re going to condition the energy in that way.
[Darren] If we were able to visualize in a very concentrated way during the time where we were invoking and sending out this energy would that be… is that a way to complement the words, or is that beyond words or…?
[Mark] Well, ultimately a very advanced master, I would imagine would not need words. And, when we hear of instances when Masters have used words, I suspect it may be more for our benefit than for theirs. But when you’re an extremely advanced being you can just manipulate the energy directly through thought. You don’t need to say words out loud.
Spiritual energy is very much like water, in a way. One drop is not going to fill a reservoir. So one prayer is not going to bring about world peace, unfortunately, but a reservoir is composed of many drops of water. So if enough people put enough water in the reservoir one day it will be full.
[Darren] When I’ve invoked this energy and I’ve sent it out with this focused visualization of this positive result for a certain area, for example, there’s a lot of violence in the Middle East at the moment… We’ve sent out this positive visualization of peace and greater harmony and a greater understanding of each other… What is actually happening in that area when we do that?
[Mark] OK. There’s two points I’d like to make. One is: what is happening, to answer your question, is you are sending energy that the people in that region and connected with that situation can then, on a superconscious level, use to inspire themselves to act in such a way as to bring about peace.
You are sending energy that the people in that region and connected with that situation can then, on a superconscious level, use to inspire themselves to act in such a way as to bring about peace.
Another point I’d like to make is that spiritual energy is very much like water, in a way. One drop is not going to fill a reservoir. So one prayer is not going to bring about world peace, unfortunately, but a reservoir is composed of many drops of water. So if enough people put enough water in the reservoir one day it will be full.
So we shouldn’t be put off by apparently not seeing results in some tremendously difficult conflict like, well or conflicts plural, like those in the Middle East. The more you pray, the more powerful you will be as a channel of energy because the more that you practice The Twelve Blessings or the more that you visualize world peace and freedom etc. then the more energy will be able to flow through you, and the greater the quality of the energy too. Because energy is about quantity and about quality.
Quantity – you might be very dynamic, very powerful. But you might perhaps lack a certain subtlety of realisation that will make the energy of a higher quality. So the ideal is to have a high quantity and a high quality of energy.
[Darren] But when you say “quality of energy” do you mean the extent to which you can condition that energy that you invoke with love, or is that different?
[Mark] I think the simple answer is yes, it is about how much you can condition it with love, which raises a lot of other questions, like “what is love” and “how do we condition that energy”. But the more, I think, the more selfless the motive is then the closer we are to true love.
And the more we really appreciate that we are quite literally God, but in a humble way, not an arrogant way – almost paradoxically – I think then the quality of energy is going to be greater.
To pray not just for people, but when we’re praying for people to pray for the sake of the divinity within those people, as the divinity within ourselves, then we begin to really get to the core of what we are and what they are.
To pray not just for people, but when we’re praying for people to pray for the sake of the divinity within those people, as the divinity within ourselves, then we begin to really get to the core of what we are and what they are.
[Darren] Do you think that it’s as a result of a greater realization of your own Divinity and oneness with all things that you start to have that compassion or…
[Mark] Absolutely, yes. I think maybe not consciously, but I think that that is where the compassionate urge comes from – is the fact that at the end of the day we are all one. Literally. I know people say this and it might even sound trite. Exactly. Hippyish even… but it is literally true.
And not just all people are one but all life. Even inanimate objects, plants, light, everything is one, because everything is a manifestation of the Divine.
These ones are constantly transmuting prana into love energy and radiating that outwards… That’s what Transmutation is. That’s what white magic is. That’s what all true metaphysics is about when put into practical action: taking something basic, and putting it on to a higher level.
[Darren] What do you think the relationship is between compassion and love? We’ve talked about cultivating compassion, what is love after that?
[Mark] Well I think that’s a very interesting question because love really is… Well, in The Twelve Blessings when the Master Jesus talks about love, it is so different from what people normally think of as being love.
In “they who love” the Master Jesus actually says they love not any man because they love all. So what is meant by that is that the kind of love that he’s talking about is very impersonal and very unconditional. It’s not about like and dislike. You can love someone without liking them and you could give spiritual healing to your worst enemy and in no way be condoning whatever wrong thing they’ve done to you. You’re not judging them on what they’ve done. You’re helping them as a fellow spark of the divine.
[Darren] So how would someone cultivate a greater and greater love within themselves that they can imbue in their prayer?
[Mark] I think it’s a very difficult thing to do. Obviously it’s a case of practice makes perfect so the more you practice with the right motive, then the better your prayers will be, and the higher the quality of love energy will be because love is an energy. In fact it’s been described by a great Master as the One Energy. It is integral to all life. Even when it seems like it really isn’t, when you look at some of the awful things that go on but actually love is at the core of manifestation itself.
All spiritual practices will help to manifest a greater love. And I think, it’s not a very fashionable word, but I think you cannot separate true love from sacrifice. Sacrifice is absolutely key to real love because if there’s no sacrifice then you have to ask yourself is it really love or is it just attachment, ordinary desire, like and dislike…
[Darren] Or even just a part of your identity…
When the Master Jesus, I think it’s in the Fifth Blessing when he’s talking about the Thanksgivers [note: Second Blessing to “they who love”] and, I’m paraphrasing, but he talks about how these ones are constantly transmuting prana into love energy and radiating that outwards…
[Mark] I think, well one theme of The Twelve Blessings is – and one theme of life, real spiritual life, which is the only life that really counts – is taking a basic energy and putting it on to a higher level. That’s what Transmutation is. That’s what white magic is. That’s what all true metaphysics is about when put into practical action: taking something basic, and putting it on to a higher level. Taking a sad song and making it better.
[Darren] It’s almost like The Twelve Blessings is a vehicle for doing that, which anyone can practice.
[Mark] Absolutely. 100 percent. The Twelve Blessings is one of the greatest vehicles for doing that. We are ordinary people. We’re not advanced Masters. We can’t enter – can’t yet enter – the higher states of meditation. But we can all practice The Twelve Blessings, and it really is at the essence of true karma yoga that we’re taking about…
For example, when we eat. You can eat because you just really like the food…
[Darren] Which I do…
[Mark] Yes, well me too actually. But the correct metaphysical reason to eat is to nourish the body so that you can be of service to others. So there you are taking matter, consuming it for your physical survival, so that you can do something on a spiritual level. In that way your whole life can become one of transmutation.
[Darren] Everything is serving that purpose in the end.
[Mark] Absolutely, absolutely. At a higher level of evolution, everything, every thought, every action, revolves around Divinity.
[Darren] It reminds me of a lecture by Dr. King where he’s talking about the occult secrets of the Master Jesus and how everything he did was just for the one big thing that he had to achieve in his life and everything was for that purpose. Everything was in preparation for that.
[Mark] Absolutely. And look… I mean, when you’re talking about a Master like the Master Jesus then it’s on another level entirely as well, because remember that the Master Jesus didn’t even need to be here – at all. So the whole… every breath he took right from the moment of his birth was about service. Every single second of experience on this Earth was a sacrifice because he could have been somewhere much, much better – being treated much, much better.
[Darren]It brings us right back to the theme of sacrifice that you were talking about in the beginning, I mean just their very presence here could have been… I mean even that is so tremendous but the fact that then there was then a mission on top of it which was so profound as well…
[Mark] I think this is something that I came to me very strongly on Mount Baldy in America (one of the Holy Mountains, charged by Mars Sector Six) was that we think of Mars Sector Six as being extremely authoritative and a very powerful intelligence, obviously extremely wise. We tend to think of Mars Sector Six I think in almost a disciplinarian role. This is a Master who you would not want to contradict in any way…
[Darren] Or make a mistake…
[Mark] No, you really wouldn’t. And of course all the Cosmic Masters are compassionate. But, for me personally, it’s not the first thing that would have sprung to my mind in describing Mars Sector 6, but when I was on Mount Baldy, and of course the energy is from him, the feeling I got more than any other was the incredible love. And to say it’s unconditional love doesn’t really even begin to do it justice because it’s the kind of love that we on Earth just don’t really know.
There is literally nothing that they would not do for us. They do far more for us than we even do for ourselves. They care far more about our well-being than we care about our own. This is the kind of psychology that we’re talking about with the Cosmic Masters. And I was very pleased to have that experience on Mount Baldy because I think it helped to slightly correct a wrong approach I had to this great being. It made my attitude a little bit less limited, I think, just to try and appreciate actually that’s what it’s really about. Yes, they’re great scientists. Yes, they have tremendous power, tremendous authority. But, at the end of the day, it’s really about the fact that they love us. Simple as that. Because if they didn’t none of the other stuff would matter.
One is that it is of course given by a very great Master, The Master Jesus, who we believe is from another planet…. It is [also] perfectly balanced from a metaphysical point of view – from a karmic point of view. It’s exactly what mankind should be doing in order to bring about a spiritual renaissance on Earth.
[Darren] A lot of people do report that experience of energy or spiritual energy when they’re doing The Twelve Blessings, myself included, and I wondered what is it about The Twelve Blessings that’s so potent in invoking spiritual energy whereas I may not have felt that doing some other type of practice?
[Mark] Yeah, I think there are a number of reasons why The Twelve Blessings is particularly powerful.
One is that it is of course given by a very great Master, The Master Jesus, who we believe is from another planet. The fact that we think he’s from another planet doesn’t mean that we think he’s not Divine, not a source of great wisdom, not a being of great compassion. We think all of those things. We believe them very strongly indeed. We just don’t believe that he is the one and only Son of God because that doesn’t really… it’s familiar to us all as a concept, whether we believe it or not, but logically, if you analyze it, it’s far more reasonable to suppose that Jesus actually came from another planet.
So The Twelve Blessings was given by this incredibly wise, compassionate, advanced being who we knew on Earth as Jesus. So that, right from the start, is going to give it a certain power, because it has the energy of the Master Jesus behind it. It has the endorsement of the Cosmic Masters. It has the seal of approval of the Gods from space. So it’s… that straight off makes it an absolutely magnificent thing that’s very hard to compare with anything else on Earth.
Secondly, but related to that, is that it is perfectly balanced from a metaphysical point of view – from a karmic point of view. It’s exactly what mankind should be doing in order to bring about a spiritual renaissance on Earth.
In The Twelve Blessings, we are empowering spiritual workers, like “they who work for peace” or spiritual healers. We are giving thanks and praise to great cosmic beings, like the Mother Earth and the Mighty Sun, and we are also sending out power to help bring about inspiration in the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters on Earth.
[Darren] You talked about how it’s perfectly balanced from a karmic perspective, what does that mean about The Twelve Blessings?
[Darren] Well, I think that’s a very deep question to which I can not give a full answer I’m afraid, but I think one key point is that The Twelve Blessings is overwhelmingly about giving out. It’s about helping others and giving thanks to great cosmic beings. There is no prayer in The Twelve Blessings that is directed solely on one’s self. There’s nothing wrong with praying for yourself if you do it in the right way, but that is not the approach of the prayers or the blessings. Sometimes in the text itself, the Master Jesus does talk about the importance of going within and finding peace but it’s all within the context of that then enabling you to do more to help others.
This series features Mark Bennett and Darren Ball. Mark is the co-author of Prayer Energy and the youngest International Director of The Aetherius Society, whose teachings he chose as his spiritual path at an early age. You can learn more about Mark here.
Darren works as a volunteer for The Aetherius Society and is the creator of The Twelve Blessings website. You can learn more about Darren here.
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