'By whatever name, the still small voice'
by Ginny Nilsen
Eugene, Oregon
As people all over the world experience disruption of their daily lives either through bombings, slaughter or kidnappings, I think about the importance of active supportive prayer; the kind were I can craft my thoughts, feelings and actions to contribute to a peaceful world. Surely, lending our prayers through the very way we live our lives contributes positively to the collective world-thought if we believe that we are all one in the spiritual reality of the infinite consciousness.
What is this lust that drives an individual to possess, control, or determine life or death for another? How can the justification of killing another's life, spirit or joy be the means of maintaining one's own comfort, survival, or satisfaction?
Years ago, I was awakened in the night by a stranger, and stabbed and then choked. During those final breathless moments, I saw so clearly, my parents sitting in their living room, being told I was murdered the night before. Then I heard mentally and forcefully, "NO!" screaming in my thought. The entire scene then changed and the bedding was no longer between me and the assailant. I saw my foot pushing this man away from me, when a moment earlier, the sheet, blanket and bedspread were the very objects pinning me down by the man's body. The events of those moments and the minutes that followed in bringing about my escape and safety, served to propel me in the next fifteen years to seek an understanding of how that phenomenon took place. I came to believe it was the Christ power of God's love that continued my eternal life and today keeps me free from thinking there is any power in fear to influence me.
My volunteer work in the interfaith movement has given me the opportunity to hear many people talk about death-facing and liberating experiences from disease, injuries and addiction, and how they have said their own "NO!" to anything that would try to separate or darken their own relationship with God's light and love. Whether they've used the term Christ, Guru, God's love, or angels, they have described what they believe maintains their eternal existence of being.
With their ever-deepening unity with God, their values and treatment of themselves and others have proven that oneness with God is reflected in their oneness with others. This lessens feelings of disappointments in life and failures to respond to everything with love. Like clouds dissipating to reveal the sun's existence and light, so too, do individuals find cloudless living and loving service, all to the glory of Divine Love.
If we believe that Berlin walls and apartheids disappeared with the power of many people's prayers magnifying this power of good in behalf of many dark and oppressive conditions, can we not lift our thoughts to God’s perspective and bring our lives to the collective table in saying "NO!" to evil and injustice? Do we believe we can dispel any grip of fear and insecurity in our own lives? I believe that with whatever name we call the Divine communication that maintains life, peace and unity, we can do it!