Dear Theophilus, 

In this letter, as I promised you, I am going to continue with the topic of prayer and what I thought we could do is look at the more practical aspects.

When we approach prayer we must become recollected and focused. What this means is the following. We go through much of our day on what I would call "automatic control". We do things habitually without much thought given to what it is that we are doing. This has become a mindset with us and we cannot approach prayer in this way because prayer demands that we be there and consciously aware of what we are doing. In a sense we must wake up and just be more conscious of our lives. To assist us in this, it is good to develop a habit of turning our attention to God during the course of an ordinary day: if we are to consume some food, think of God and thank Him, if we are waiting at a bus stop, think of God. If you are in the middle of an argument and you see that it is becoming acrimonious, step back and silently call in God to intervene. There are many instances during the course of a day when we can turn to God and by practising these, it will make it easier when we come to our prayers. All this takes perseverance and time so do not give up if you fail. Keep trying and you will succeed. What the exercise that I have described above will do is address one of the complaints of those that start out on a life of prayer. There are continual distractions that intrude and make it difficult to pray. In time we will see that the distractions will become secondary and we will be able to shut ourselves away from them. There is a little story from Islam that illustrates this. Al Absihi insisted that his household be quiet when an important visitor came, but when Al Absihi prayed, the household could be as loud as it wanted because nobody could intrude into his prayers. With practice, we will also be like that.

Another question arises as to the posture of the body. Do I have to kneel, do I stand, how do I position myself? The body is important because we have got to get away from the concept that prayer is only a mental exercise. Prayer involves the whole of a person and therefore the position of the body is also something to be considered. In answer I would say the following. Think of where you have placed yourself. You are standing before God and it is very important to realize where you are. Many of us approach prayer with so little faith that when we say that we are before God, we don't really believe this. If you came into the presence of God, how would you behave? You see how the situation has been turned around? Your bodily position indicates how you believe. The body position is important and should show respect but it should not be intrusive. If you kneel and your right knee hurts and your mind is continually drawn to that knee, that is not much good. It would be better to stand. To summarize, I would say take up a position of respect and attentiveness.

Prayer is not the same as thinking about God; it is about meeting God. So, in a sense, all thought is to be rejected except for the words of our prayer. Believe that God is there. I know that this will take the effort of your will but that is why you have a will - to use it. There is a sage who once said that freedom is willed necessity. Contrary to what we think, freedom is not doing whatever whim hits us. Freedom is living in accordance to what we were made for and that is to adore, worship and commune with God. But because we live in a fallen world, it takes effort to pay attention.

To start, choose a prayer that you like. It can be any length but above all it must be a prayer that is of your choosing. Take some time to prepare yourself. Preparation, in our hurried world is something that we often omit but it cannot be left out in prayer. We must prepare if we are to participate properly. Place yourself in God's presence by consciously becoming aware of what you are about to do and then pronounce the words of prayer, attentively paying attention to what you are saying and what the words mean. I must caution you at the very outset - your thoughts will wander and you will get off the track of praying. Don't worry because this is a natural occurrence which happens to everyone. Just recollect yourself again and proceed. Say the words of your prayer monotonously in a manner slow enough that you can pay attention to the words that you are saying. Above all, do not try to induce some emotional state in you. The aim of the prayer is to meet God and not to have some kind of emotional exhilaration. The fruits of prayer are not some emotional highs but a change in our personality.

Just a few more words about the physical environment of our prayers. Choose a place where you are comfortable and where you are unlikely to be interrupted by telephone calls and so on. Try to say your prayers in that same locale and at the same time. Set the duration of your prayers, whatever it is, and stick to it. What is important is not so much the length of time but the attentiveness that you devote to your prayers during that time and the disciplined regularity of your prayer life.

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? And yet it is so hard for us to carry out. It will demand a lot of effort on our part to succeed. To appreciate what we are undertaking and the obstacles that we will face let us consider the situation in which we find ourselves.

Concentration and effort can only be attained by us by force of will. But, in a sense, there are two wills within us. There is the conscious will that enables us to act according to our convictions and then there is what I could almost call an instinctive will. This is a will that behaves semi-autonomously in us and whose main goal is sensual self-satisfaction. There is this struggle that goes on in us and prayer is part of that struggle. Allied to this is a life that we have become used to. This is a life in which the hardships faced by our forefathers have been lessened. We live in relative luxury and ease and we therefore do not see a need for prayer. We have become like Job in our comfort praying almost superstitiously whenever we are threatened with the loss of our privileged position. This kind of prayer is not prayer but magic. We are trying to force our will on life and on circumstances, at the same time, manipulating our idolatrous concept which we call "god". This will not do. We must modify our sense of values and become prepared to pay the cost.

Remember, above, I had said that prayer is about changing us and this in fact is the essence of our meeting with God. We will be asked to die to ourselves and this, many of us are not prepared to do, and this also is the reason why many of us do not approach prayer seriously. At least we are honest - we do not really want to change and therefore we do not pray. When you get to the bottom of it all, this is the fundamental reason for absence of prayer in our lives. God's will be fulfilled in us is the criterion of right prayer and a lot of us have reservations about God's will for us. What we must realize is that our views are very short termed. Things are fine now but our situation is precarious. It can change overnight with an illness, loss of a job, or some other calamity. This may happen or this may not but there is a calamity that misses no man and that is physical death. It isn't surprising that death has become a taboo topic in our society because it declares that all our plans and strivings are a lie and a deception. What good is it all if it ends in death, as it will inevitably do so? Much of our lives are spent on escapism but reality will catch up with us. To me, it seems much more practical and realistic to prepare now and what we will find is not that our lives will become impoverished and sombre, but that they will become more meaningful and more filled with joy which the world neither gives nor takes away. The world can give happiness but it can also take it away but joy and happiness are not the same thing. One of the things that we need so badly is meaning in our lives and without this, we live as zombies existing in a twilight of resignation. Until we realize our true state and condition, until we realize that we are very subtly enslaved, we will not try to become free. I know that a lot of this sounds like jargon to you and may not resonate. That is why I urge you to pray. If what I am saying has any foundation then you will see this not by my statements and arguments but will become convinced through your own experiences. All that I am saying is give it a try and persist and then I would like to hear from you and see what your experiences are. Enough talking; time to act.

Yours, as always,

Bar-Abbas

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