The highest level of prayer is not a prayer FOR anything. It is a deep and profound silence, in which we allow ourselves to be still and know God. In that silence, we are changed. We are calmed. We are illumined. Prayer is meant to dissolve the worldly focus, to dissolve our sense of a separate self, to help us detach from the noisy world order.
Prayer is like pouring hot water on an ice cube, melting the cold and encrusted thought forms that still surround our hearts.
The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no one sees it. It is a Temple of majesty, yet no one regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not humans disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God, the place of Angels, and the Gate of Heaven.
~ from CENTURIES OF MEDITATIONS by Thomas Traherne
