Do prayers, visualizations, affirmations or other spiritual practices really work, or if they only work sometimes, why?
This question is repeatedly asked by many-by those who ask for prayer, and by those who pray or use some other spiritual practice for themselves or others. With the progression in spiritual awakening, the answers change.
As an example, in the old-time, basic fundamentalist religion, prayer for most people is a pleading, begging, or hoping for some desired result. As a person moves in spiritual awareness to a higher plane of consciousness or understanding-such as that of New Thought or basic metaphysics-the pleading and begging cease, and prayer becomes an affirming that, through God's Power, the desired effect is already so.
The question then becomes, which is most effective: old-fashioned prayer or newer New Thought prayer? If truth be told, both can be effective-or at least, give the illusion of effectiveness to one's personal perception. On the other hand, whether one uses traditional, New Thought, or any other spiritual practice, the results can also prove to be ineffective.
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Invocation and Declaration
Dr. Masters would use the following invocation and declaration in his weekly instructional life improvement lectures:
Invocation to Higher Inner Consciousness for
Starting the Week Spiritually Attuned
I call forth into the innermost center of my mind, nature's intelligence, Universal Mind, the God of my being, to release all negativity from the week just passed and throughout my life. I open myself as I start this new week to the inner light of peace, power, intuitive wisdom, creativity, healing, and revitalization throughout my entire being as a positive statement of my soul's eternal oneness with the creative power of the Father-Mother God of Universal Presence within me ... AND SO IT IS!
Declaration of Transcendent Self Reality
I am the presence of universal mind and spirit, having individualized into human form. I express the wisdom, power, creativity, peace, love and harmony of my universal origin as I go through this human life, for this realization of my true God-Selfhood, I give thanks ...
AND SO IT IS!
