I felt the feeling of wet earth oozing between my naked toes.

One of the most beautiful, inspiring things I've read lately. I'm keeping this one tucked in a pocket. And more importantly, applying.

"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." - Maya Angelou

{Context: There's been a three-year drought in the southwest USA...}

"The old ones say that it has been over one hundred years since the rains have left us for so long," David replied. "That is why we have come to this place, to call to the rain."

{David prays, and arises.} ... "Already?" I asked, a little surprised. It seemed as though we had just arrived. "I thought you were going to pray for rain."

... "No, I said that I would 'pray rain'", he replied. "If I had prayed for rain, it would never happen."

{That afternoon it begins to rain--a lot.}

..."When I was young," he had said, "our elders passed to me the secret of prayer. The secret is that when we ask for something, we acknowledge what we do not have. Continuing to ask only gives power to what has never come to pass.

"The path between man and the forces of this world begins in our hearts. It is here that our feeling world is married to our thinking world. In my prayer, I begin with the feeling of gratitude for all that is and all that has come to pass. I gave thanks for the desert wind, the heat, and the drought, for that is the way of it, until now. It is not good. It is not bad. It has been our medicine.

"Then I chose a new medicine. I began to have the feeling of what rain feels like. I felt the feeling of rain upon my body. Standing in the stone circle, I imagined that I was in the plaza of our village, barefoot in the rain. I felt the feeling of wet earth oozing between my naked toes. I smelled the smell of rain on the straw-and-mud walls of our village after the storms. I felt what it feels like to walk through fields of corn growing up to my chest because the rains have been so plentiful. The old ones remind us that this is how we choose our path in this world. We must first have feelings of what we wish to experience. This is how we plant the seeds of a new way. From that point forward," David continued, "our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks."

"Thanks. Do you mean thanks for what we have created?" [, author asks.]

"No, not for what we may have created," David replied. "Creation is already complete. Our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks for the opportunity to chose which creation we experience. Through our thanks we honor all possibilities and bring the ones we choose into this world." - The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden

"Creation is only the projection into form of that which already exists." - The S'rîmad Bhâgavatam (or the Bhâgavata Purâna).

Art Credits: Sonoita Rain, by Nancy Weaver Monsman

Comments

[Halvin Pikavippi]

Magnificent work! thank a lot!

[Helens]

This really made my day, thank you a lot!

[Vic]

This is a very insightful article and I enjoyed it reading from top till end. I totally agree that we must be thankful. Praying is good but feeling and reflecting is better. This is because when we reflect, we listen, rather than ask.

[Nut Tmu-Ankh Butterfly Dreaming ☥]

Loved meeting your blog today and the treat of savoring this medicine story in print for the first time (have only seen/heard Gregg tell it before).

I'm pointing my readers to this & to you.

Thank YOU!

[Belinda Stephens]

Wow, you are wonderful burst of color and energy that I just happened upon. And what you have to say is much akin to my own experience and feelings. In fact, one of my favorite and most vivid dreams that came to me in sleep was watching myself take a path into the woods, barefoot and feeling the wet earth between my toes. I was concerned that others would see the dark traces of mud left on my soles - why return? I always wanted to paint this image. Thank you for your site/blog. Very engaging to me!