Everything affects everything.
August 28, 2000
God fills your souls with loving presence. You are all deeply loved by God and by others. You are a part of the wonderful tapestry of life. In this tapestry there are many colors and shapes and scenes. Many emotions belong to the totality of this creation. You are not insignificant, because you are a part of something far greater than just your own lives and experiences. As in any tapestry, everything is connected. Everything relates to all that is contained within the unit.
The question arose about the nature of healing through prayer and whether the healing is enhanced as the number of those who pray is increased. The answer is an emphatic “yes,” but the reason for this increase is not related to your supplications to God. The more people pray to God does not in itself mean that God works harder on behalf of the one who is prayed for. Even one person praying for another has the power to fully open another to God’s healing presence.
Where then is the advantage of many joining together in prayer? The answer lies in an understanding of another dynamic that exists between people. The book you mentioned by Dossey suggesting an energy that exists between people is entirely correct [Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey, MD]. It is not a theory. You do affect others. That is because of the energy that your soul emits outward and upward as well as inward. Your collection of souls as a group emits an enormous amount of energy.
Thoughts create energy. Thoughts when united in a common cause create an even larger wave of energy. When you are joined in loving thoughts of another, you are creating the energy of love. If one person issues loving thoughts, such energy is also created, and it is not insignificant, but praying or meditating together is so much more powerful in its ability to create these fields of energy. When many pray for peace, the possibilities of peace being found are multiplied many times. You need never feel that praying alone is any less helpful, for all prayer is beneficial. But it is true that this connection, this tapestry that we refer to, is indeed an intertwining of spiritual energy.
We have spoken before of your connection with all living things. That connection is not merely an academic description; it is a true statement. Everything you do, everything you say, everything that you think has an effect beyond yourself. It is for this reason that religions have been founded upon the concept of corporate prayer. It is not just motivated by political or monetary necessity in the history of religions. It is a fact. There is much you can do on your own. There is a great deal you can do to provide an environment for health, an environment for peace, an environment for justice when you pray together.
As you know, there is no real dimension called space or time. Space does not really exist. Distances between objects do not really exist, but they are a convenient construction for trying to make order in your lives. Most animals have no sense of space or time. There may be an inner working psychologically that directs animals to behave in certain ways at certain times, but there is not a concept of “time is running out” or “it takes time to go from point A to point B.” Most animals just move. They go from point A to point B. Point A and the space encountered in getting to point B is all the same unit. It is a single entity.
Only humankind has devised a system of organization that tries to define time and space. But since there is no real absolute time, there is no absolute space. All is in reality a single unit, a single point. There are not multiple locations; you are just together. Because there is no space, in reality there is no distance. As there is no distance, it is more logical for individuals to be in contact with one another when occupying what humanity identifies as two widely separated points.
Because humans perceive a reality of distance, it becomes impossible for them to understand how an individual in one location can have a direct influence on an event or an individual in another location, for that kind of influence does not follow logically through the perception of distance. Because there is no distance, there is no difficulty in communication.
Some people seem to have an uncanny awareness of events in the future, and humans are amazed at the ability to predict. But in reality, as there is no time, there is no future, and the prognosticator is merely seeing what is. There is no “what will be.” There is also no “what was” since there is no past. What you call the past, the present, and the future are merely efforts to describe the various characteristics of the here, the now. They are efforts to understand the presence of life.
Since there is no distance or time, since everything is absolutely a single unit, it is not surprising that one individual or many can have an influence on another. Issues of health are really no different than any other issues, for health is not a single compartment of life. It is life. If you stand as a group, closely in physical contact with one another, and one person begins to push, everyone is aware of that effort. If five or six begin to push, everyone is also aware of that effort. That effort is stronger, it is more easily sensed, and so it is with prayer. You are not praying across any distance whatsoever. You are already at the location of that for which you pray, whether it is a condition, a person, a community—there is no separation. Because you are all united, the force that binds you together, the spiritual reality that you share, surrounds each individual so that if there is a disruption anywhere, it is recognized by all.
There have been many books written trying to describe a kind of force that travels great distances, “out of body” forces. But when you realize and accept that there are no distances, the force is more easily understood as the example of pressure being applied to a group when all are in physical contact. When you accept the absolute, total unity of all that has been created, all that you hear around you at this moment as well as human life, there is no mystery about the power of one or the power of many to influence another individual. [The group was sitting on a screened porch and nature’s symphony of crickets, frogs, etc. was quite loud.] Even the concept of other individuals is a convenience of sorts, since for human beings it is really not possible to fully comprehend the reality of all being one. It would be like describing a foot as being an entity totally separate from a hand. It is not separate, as you know; it is connected. It is a single organism, but within that organism there are differences of function.
This is the nature of all life. There is human function. There is dog function. There is cricket function. There is individual A function. There is individual B function. There are all these functions, but all are still fully united. As you grow in your ability to accept this reality, you will recognize fewer grounds for conflict, for an organism in the end cannot fight itself. An organism fights what it perceives to be external. Even illness is not external. Illness is a part of the functioning of the body. It may not follow a pattern that you seek, but it is part of the activity that occupies the human organism. We don’t want to sound overly technical or theoretical, but we do want you to gain more insight into the unity of all that is created.
When you pray for others, you are helping them. When many pray, you are helping them even more, because you and they are not separate. You are part of that same tapestry. You are part of the entire creation. There is no mystery to your ability to help one another. There is no mystery about the impact of several beings praying in the same direction at the same time. If you are all pushing in the same direction, you will move the stone. If you are all pushing in separate directions, then no movement is perceived.
Prayer is incredibly powerful. It always works, and the more who pray, the more impact the prayer has. But you see, this is a function of your spiritual unity. It is not an activation enhanced through prayer that is directed towards God’s actions. God does not work harder when prayed to by many as opposed to few. God does not take sides and feel “well if this many people want such and such, then I’d better work at it.” That’s a human reaction; it is not a spiritual one.
If you pray for the right things to take place, it makes no difference to God how many are praying, for what is right is right. What enhances, what strengthens, whatever uplifts, what affirms, what comforts, what transmits love, what expresses compassion— all of these are right. If only one prays for what is right, rightness will prevail, because the individual or community for which you pray has been opened to receive these gifts of rightness.
Look for opportunities for serving others in community. There is benefit, without question. There is no mystery, although your system of understanding life does not include enough understanding to comprehend the natural flow of energy between individuals. Your life is enhanced because you are aware of the potential for giving individually and corporately. Your understanding of the unity of life is enhanced through our sharing and your own experiences. What is a miracle other than your reaction to a natural process not fully understood?
There is much that remains beyond the comprehension of humans and will remain beyond such comprehension, but there are also many steps that can be taken that eliminate the mystery and enhance the pure wonder and beauty of life, of spiritual life and physical life. As you grow in your understanding, be thankful for that insight. Acknowledge it in the way you live. Express it in how you live, how you relate to others, how you relate to nature, how you relate to the magnificent, all-encompassing tapestry of life!
You are blessed by your continued growth. You are blessed in your gifts to heal and in your gifts of openness to healing. Thank God for those blessings. We give thanks for your acknowledgment of God in your lives, and we give thanks for opening your souls that we may enter to provide light and life.
Amen.