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We all have our trials and tribulations. As my father says, some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue. What helps us get through our ‘statue’ times is a deeper sense that there’s a greater purpose at work. If you feel that you’re the victim of a random universe – or of a pigeon on a mission – it’s hard to take refuge in the idea that what you’re experiencing can offer you anything in terms of wisdom or growth. Even more frustrating, when you’re in the midst of a difficult issue, justice and fairness can appear to be well and truly absent. However, when you lift yourself up to a higher perspective and are willing to let go of the need to know why things occur, comfort can be found.
Of course, when you want to get a message across, there’s nothing more powerful than a good story. You’ll see this used to great effect in the new book by the astrologer, Robert Ohotto, Transforming Fate Into Destiny. He advocates raising our perspective from ego prayer to soul prayer when petitioning the Divine for what we think we need in our life. In his view, “Ego prayers originate mainly out of what we think we want … sometimes these are things we’re told are important by the media and our culture, parents and peers”.
To illustrate the concept, he gives a fictional example of an ego prayer by a character called Mike, including this passage – “I hate my current boss, He’s always criticising me and never appreciates the hard work I do – he totally reminds me of my father. This new book I’m reading says prayer and visualisation are powerful, so I’m going to visualise making a million dollars by next year through this new internet gig – could you give me a hand with that? It would be great if you could help me manifest it! Then I could quit my current job, get some cool clothes, buy a house, lease a new BMW and have money to travel to the Bahamas next fall.”
Ohotto goes on to imagine God’s response as “Let me give you a glimpse of things from my perspective: First of all, before you were born, you made an agreement with your boss that he would come into your life at this time to help you heal your issues with your father and how his criticism wounded you. This means your boss must treat you much like your Dad did in order to trigger your old wounds so that they can surface again and can be dealt with now that you are an adult … This is very important to accept, because where you are going next in your life, you will need to learn how to validate yourself in ways your father could not. You are going to be running a major company in the years to come and will need to be a true leader with authentic soul-esteem. Since that is not done yet, you need to stay in the same job … Now about this financial request, you are not yet mature enough to handle a million dollars. That amount of cash would exploit current flaws in your character that you are not aware of and hinder your spiritual development. At this point, you are not able to handle the choices that come with that amount of money.”
To show the qualities of a soul prayer, Ohotto creates a fictional character named Victoria, who prays “All of my previous requests to be a breakout success as a fashion photographer here in New YorkCity seem to have been ignored. I’m having a really hard time in my life right now; my heart is very heavy. I know I’m meant to be learning things and with your grace I can get through this period. You know that I’m currently in a job that I can’t stand. I hate waiting tables when I have a Master’s degree in art and photography – it’s so humiliating. I feel like such a failure. How am I going to continue to get by as a waitress living here in New York? Although I came here two years ago to explore creative opportunities in the fashion industry, nothing is panning out, and I feel lost and invisible. Am I on the right path? Is there another way I’m meant to use my talents and skills? Waiting tables can’t be all there is for me in this lifetime – right? Please show me what I need to learn so that I can go on to the next part of my journey. I’m willing to look at whatever I need to within myself in order to heal and move my life forward.”
In this dialogue, the Divine responds to Victoria’s soul prayer by telling her “I know that you have been having a hard time and that things have been tough, but it has all led you to this point of authentic surrender. Although you came to New York City wanting to be a fashion photographer, that is not really your dream, but only what you thought you wanted in order to belong and ‘be somebody’. Things have not worked out over the past two years so that you would begin to clarify what your soul truly wants to create in this lifetime. You are just about done with this lesson, my dear. I will sustain you through this time of difficulty as your ego’s desires burnout and your heart ignites. You were never meant to work in the world of fashion and you wouldn’t have been truly happy there. But you are indeed meant to be a professional photographer. When you are finally ready, I am going to help you to become incredibly successful. For now you must learn the lesson of humility and surrender. When you can feel just as good about yourself as a waitress as you would being a famous photographer, then you will be ready for the next steps in your journey. Until then, you must stay in your current job.”
If you have a problem that’s bugging you right now, try lifting your vision to a higher perspective and formulating a soul prayer to help you see what qualities this might be strengthening in you or what old wounds might be coming up for you to heal. Assume that there’s a purpose in what you’re experiencing – rather than bemoaning your circumstances, turn your assumptions upside-down and see what good might be obscured by what you have decided is bad. There’s no guarantee you’ll figure it all out right away, but at least having a sense of soul purpose will lift you out of victim mentality and into a much more creative frame of mind, knowing that there’s meaning to whatever you’re going through.
Use soul prayers to help you to open to the guidance that will get you on track. As Ohotto says, “Soul prayers ask of the Divine: Please infuse my contribution to this situation with your deepest wisdom and my highest potential. Show me, dear Universe, where I am afraid to hear your answer to my prayer, where I am blocking my own clarity, and why.”
To find out more about Robert Ohotto’s work, he’s regularly interviewed for the I Can Do It show on www.hayhouseradio.com and his personal website is www.ohotto.com. If you really want to get out there, post your prayer on www.dear-god.net – the latest non-denominational online bulletin board for prayers brought to you by the founder of Cool Hunter.
And here's the aptly-named New Soul video from Yael Naim. It's the catchy one from the Mac Air ad ...
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All material © 2008 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author.
Tags: Robert Ohotto, Transforming Fate Into Destiny, Soul, Prayer, Vision
iamfabulousco at 19:56:00 o'clock BST Blog about this entry |
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The problem with blogging about both entries - I lost my focus on this one since I was reading MW's book online!
I *love* the name 'soul prayer' - it's so evocative. And it's such a wonderful way to pray: it actually opens you up to dialogue with God in a way nothing else does. The power of "God, I'm here, this is what I'd hoped for...but it's not working out, help me understand" is incredible.
So often we think the words "I don't know" are a sign of weakness. But they open you up to possibilities you couldn't have dreamed of - as I get older, I wonder if they really aren't one of our greatest strengths.
Brilliant blog, Ms Porter - my only complaint is that amazon is making a fortune off me...
Ixx -
Loved the post!
BTW, it's http://www.ohotto.com, not .net.
I remember picking up "Course of Miracles" years ago, and finding it wasn't for me. I find myself more in line with Rachel Remen & Debbie Ford, who tell you that some of your greatest gifts lie in the darkness, rather than suggesting you 'take that ego folder and press the delete button'. One of my favourite stories of Remen's was the woman at the stoplight who called an abusive husband 'a**hole', changing the wife's perception and giving her the strength to leave. Our anger and judgment has a rightful place in our personality and in this world, and we can only use it properly when we acknowledge and integrate it. I suspect part of the problem is Williamson's Christian slant - God is only light, whereas religions like Hinduism allow for a more complete God with aspects like Kali.
I find Marianne Williamson's programme...merciless beneath its chirpiness. (As with all things promising only light, there's a dark underside lurking.) The whole 'eliminate the ego' game which pervades her work and the New Age movement is troubling. Not only is it impossible, the ego is the interface between physical and spiritual reality, a message bearer if you will. Destroying it or the 'personality' actually destroys the whole person.
I find her "but I'm not X or Y, so I don't listen to the world's judgment" stance a way of waving away legitimate criticism. When we don't listen to criticism and accept that people are reflecting something important back to us, we run the danger of becoming narcissistic.
Look at yourself honestly? Absolutely. Work through your fears? Too right. Know who you are, light and dark, and accept all the gifts that come from it? Thumbs up.
Become 'only light'? To paraphrase Rachel Remen, I'll take wholeness (holiness?) over perfection anyday. In the long run, it means I'm a lot closer to the Divine - which embraces all there is.
Ixx
21/04/08 22:58
I'm glad you picked up on the 'soul prayer' expression - I love it too. It's so evocative. I'm sure I'll explore that more at a later date. Re surrender, I figure it's the best tactic overall. I've gone to far more interesting places letting things unfold than I ever could have by just following my own plans.
Thanks for picking up on the Ohotto web address. Think that glitch crept in when I had to re-key the address after checking the link.
I really appreciate the work of both Debbie Ford and Naomi Rachel Remen (particularly My Grandfather's Blessings) as well, but am equally inspired by Marianne Williamson's work. Without her material, I doubt that I'd have ever been able to get past the heavy-handed Christian language in A Course In Miracles and learn to truly appreciate it. Funnily enough, I find her one of the few teachers who admits to any kind of vulnerability, which therefore makes her own work much more approachable. Perhaps this comes across more in her workshops and speeches than it does on the page.
It's her pragmatism that I really love, in a world of spirituality that can be populated by charlatans and space cadets. I feel for those who are coming new to this arena these days, because it can be a real challenge to navigate the massive amount of information now available.
Ultimately we're all trying to integrate both darkness and light to move beyond duality. It's pure folly to fail to ignore your shadow side along the way, yet it's an approach that has become popular in New Age psychology. I certainly agree that it's an unhealthy tactic that can only delay the inevitable. As the Course itself says, "Free will does not mean you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you to want to take at a given time."
Thanks for your comments. It's always a pleasure to get into some meaty spiritual topics