Pray Holding a Globe in Your Hands

People search for the best prayer, or the right way to pray, how to pray, when to pray, and end up wondering if they are praying at all? Or are their prayers answered? Who answers?

Forget these questions. Buy a globe. Each day for five minutes hold that globe in your hand, close your years and have a conversation. You are doing the best prayer. Throw away prayer books. Forget about formula prayers. You don’t need to ask for blessings, because you are already BLESSED!!

Start with a prayer for the health and well-being of your family.

Say a prayer for the people of the city or village you live in.

Say a prayer for the people of the state you live in.

Think of the 320 million fellow citizens of America, if you happen to live in the USA, or adapt it based on your country of origin.

Think of the simple people of a poor country like Sierra Leone in Africa, or Afghanistan in Asia, say a prayer for the destitute families in the barren deserts of North Africa.

Think of the millions of people in poor countries who survive on one dollar a day.

You can do this exercise in many ways. For example, each day, choose a specific country. Touch it with your hand. Bless it. Say a prayer for that country. Look up Wikipedia and learn basic facts about that country and its people. If you can do that for five minutes a day, your life will change.

When you turn on that tap in your house and enjoy easy access to cold and hot water, think of the millions of women in third world countries who must walk miles to fetch water to their huts every day.

When you enjoy light in your house with the flip of a switch, think of half of humanity who live in darkness, with no access to electricity.

Before you fall asleep on a soft bed in the comfort of an air-conditioned house, say a prayer for millions of our brothers and sisters who sleep on bare floors in thatched huts or under a tree or a bridge.

Every day engage a few minutes in global thinking, and you will see your mind opening, your heart widening, your soul expanding and merging with the mind of God who is the creator of the Universe.

Let me end this lesson with Tips for Creating a Global Community which I received as an email in 2005 from a peace activist friend. I cannot locate where it was published first, but the points are valid for all times:

Think of no one as them.

Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety.

Talk to strangers.

Listen to music you don’t understand.

Question consumption.

Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown.

Wake up and smell the exploitation.

Learn a second or third language.

Visit people, places, and cultures not as tourist attractions.

Learn people’s history.

Watch films with subtitles.

Honor everyone’s holidays.

Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somewhere else is looking at it too.

Read the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Understand the global economy in terms people, land, and water.

Never believe you have a right to anyone else’s resources.

Question military/corporate connections.

Honor Indigenous cultures.

Be skeptical about what you read.

Choose curiosity over certainty.

Know where your water comes from and where your assets go.

Question nationalism.

Pledge allegiance to the Earth!

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)