Prayer to End Violence

Prayer to End Violence

By John Taylor; 2007 Apr 19

When I entitle this essay a "prayer to end violence" it does not mean that I am about to write a prayer. I only wish to make the point that prayer itself is the first step to ending violence.  Prayer in and of itself constitutes an end to violence. Prayer is an act of love making; it begins and ends in peace. If it fails in this, it is not prayer.

The first way that prayer ends violence is by ending the violence we do to ourselves. Nobody can defend you against your own violence, not even God, unless you ask Him. Depression is a serious clinical condition, and it has become pandemic. Materialistic society has forgotten the power of prayer. Instead of praying for peace, it is reflex action when confronted with a dilemma to pop a pill. The problem with medication is that it attacks only one physical symptom of a universal, existential condition. Only prayer can confer comprehensive peace. The Guardian gave the following advice to someone with a depressive illness,

"He was very sorry to hear of the condition of your dear sister. He would advise her to turn her thoughts determinedly and intelligently -- by that I mean unemotionally -- to God, realizing that He is forgiving, that in one moment He can, through His Blessed Mercy, take away our sense of failure and help us to do better in the future -- if we sincerely wish to; to turn to Him in prayer and seek to draw closer to Him; and to accept His Will and submit her own desires and opinions to His Wish and plan for her.  There is a tremendous darkness in the world today, the darkness caused by mankind's going against the Laws of God and giving way to the animal side of human nature. People must recognize this fact, and consciously struggle against pessimism and depression." (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, July 14, 1945, in Lights of Guidance, pp. 115-116)

Yes! We must "consciously struggle against pessimism and depression." Prayer is not a last resort, it is the main weapon we have in a battle we are fighting against negativity. In the peaceful respite from struggle that is our daily prayer we can plan out our strategies of the day for fighting the forces of negativity. For when the Guardian said that prayer for happiness is "unemotional," I think he was speaking of the objective state of detachment that is the prayerful attitude. He did not mean to say that God is uncaring. He is caring, He is the reverse of value neutral. To pray is to say "Yes!" to life, and to revere life along with our creator. It is to declare in your heart,

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives." (Job 19:25-27, WEB)

Prayer, every bit as much as pill popping, is highly addictive. But unlike chemicals, it does not have ill aftereffects or unexpected side effects when taken in combination with other therapies. Unlike chemicals, we were designed for prayer, not only our souls but, in a strange way, our bodies too. In my youth I recall being shocked by a young Baha'i bride who frankly compared prayer to sex. She said, the afterglow of sexual climax lasts but a few minutes but a good prayer can last hours and even days. If the prayer is pure enough, it can last a lifetime, it can change things without restriction of time and space.

To pray is to declare war on war. To pray is to serve notice to Satan, to that shadowy lurker that I have been calling Adolph Nobody, that we will no longer abide by him. The more I look at the state of the world, the more I care about what happens to us all, the more I learn to hate this guy. Adolph is the author of the tragedy of the commons, the tendency to neglect and shamelessly exploit whatever is a bounty given to us all, like the air, the water and the earth. Neglect is a form of abuse, and the thing we neglect the most is prayer. The atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who knew neglect of prayer as well as anybody, famously said,

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." (Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146)

No pious believer could ever explain better than this atheist did why prayer is absolutely necessary, and why the World Redeemer makes it obligatory on us all, every day. If you look exclusively into the outer nothingness of this world, nothingness will reflect back into whom you are. Your nature and not just your circumstances will become inherently violent. This is the reverse of what happens in the state of prayer,

"Whensoever the light of Manifestation of the King of Oneness settleth upon the throne of the heart and soul, His shining becometh visible in every limb and member. At that time the mystery of the famed tradition gleameth out of the darkness: `A servant is drawn unto Me in prayer until I answer him; and when I have answered him, I become the ear wherewith he heareth...' For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light." (Baha'u'llah, Seven Valleys, 22)

There are several steps to prayer, each of which is designed to end the hegemony of violence and upraise the Most Great Peace in the heart. As Jesus Christ taught, it starts in firm belief, proceeds to imagining the end result, and at last it all is consummated in action. If hard feelings for any of God's creatures intrude at any point, the prayer is nullified, for in that case it would not be a prayer to end violence.

"Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions." (Mark 11:24-26, WEB)

Prayer, as the Master said, is the "sweetest state in the world of existence." It is a sublime blessing to find a lull in this hectic world, a haven in the eye of the hurricane to revive the soul for a brief time. It is so sweet that methinks I can see how it that His near ones pray for greater afflictions, for the wilder the storm, the more blessed the pause. It matters nothing whether the state of prayer lasts a second or an hour, the blessing comes of being caught up in pure thoughts of peace, love and forgiveness. Consider this story that Lady Blomfield told about a "notoriously bad man, calling himself a Christian" who was living in the Holy Land in the time of Abdu'l-Baha. This fellow was on his death bed, and as often happens, he prayed for the first time, perhaps the first time ever for him. His thoughts rose above his own selfish concerns and, sitting in the eye of the hurricane, he saw others for the first time. He saw that the terrible repayment of his sins would soon, after his death, be visited on his wife. So he called for Abdu'l-Baha to come to his bedside. He begged him,

"O Master, I have been a wicked man. Forgive me all my sins and mistakes and help me, I pray; my wife will be so alone, my family will oppress her, and if not prevented, will rob her of all her sustenance. I beg of you, Master, to protect her and guide her when I am gone."

Lady Blomfield goes on to say that, "The promise was given -- the man died in peace, his mind at rest, knowing that his poor wife would be helped and protected." (Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, 101) In this case, even in this world that bad man's prayer was answered, it gave him a measure of peace knowing that his pure wish had been interceded for by the integrity of the Mystery of God.

There is a special power, no doubt, in deathbed prayers. They cannot be faked or diluted. At the point of death multiple, complex worldly motivations are washed away and all that is left must be pure, simple and unadulterated. Later, when Abdu'l-Baha had just arrived in Jim Crow Washington, He recalled before a church congregation the dying wish of Jesus Christ Himself, which was a prayer for forgiveness.

"Therefore, all of you must strive with heart and soul in order that enmity may disappear entirely and that strife and hatred pass away absolutely from the midst of the human world. You must listen to the admonition of this Spirit of Truth. You must follow the example and footprints of Jesus Christ. Read the Gospels. Jesus Christ was mercy itself, was love itself. He even prayed in behalf of His executioners -- for those who crucified Him -- saying, `Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' If they knew what they were doing, they would not have done it. Consider how kind Jesus Christ was, that even upon the cross He prayed for His oppressors. We must follow His example. We must emulate the Prophets of God. We must follow Jesus Christ. We must free ourselves from all these imitations which are the source of darkness in the world." (Promulgation, 41)

All this is prelude to a little prayer of visitation that I came across this morning. It struck me that this supplication, revealed by Baha'u'llah for His wife Navvab, the Greatest Holy Leaf, and for those who visit her grave in Haifa, is a supreme prayer for forgiveness. May God accept this prayer of us all, even from those who like me have not yet had the bounty of visiting that holy locale.

"May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him." (Baha'u'llah, in Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, 35)