Five Steps of Prayer Inspires a New Book

When I sit down to my morning prayers, I often have a whole list of concerns that I am asking for help with like relationship conflicts, work problems, and creative conundrums. I regularly remind myself that there are no problems too big or too small for God to help me solve. If the issue is preventing me from being a better human being, then it is worthy of consideration in my prayers and meditations. This is part of me trying to understand cohesion between my body, mind, heart, and soul—between my inner and outer life. I am an author and a professor as well as a Baha’i, so I spend my days thinking a lot about writing, teaching, and community outreach, which requires a great deal of creative thought and energy to complete successfully. In order to avoid the many possible places that I can get stuck, it is important to have practices to systematically figure things out and move through difficulties. For many years now, I have been trying to intentionally use a process of prayer and meditation to help me overcome challenges in my everyday life as well as my creative work.There is a Baha’i practice that is recommended, but not required, called the five steps of prayer . One version can be found in the back of the small white prayerbook called Baha’i Prayers & Holy Writings A Selection , while I pulled this version from a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice . Here are the steps interlaced with examples of how I have tried to follow the advice (bolded text added for emphasis): “Pray and meditate about it. Use the prayers of the Manifestations, as they have the greatest power. Learn to remain in the silence of contemplation for a few moments. During this deepest communion take the next step.” Last spring, I was thinking about how to unite my writing with being a Baha’i. I wanted to find a way to naturally write about my spiritual life that was not off-putting to a general reader. One morning when I was praying, I asked for guidance to share my faith with a wider audience through the art of writing. “Arrive at a decision and hold to this. This decision is usually born in a flash at the close or during the contemplation. It may seem an almost impossible accomplishment, but if it seems to be an answer to prayer or a way of solving the problem, then immediately take the next step.” I suddenly had the idea to create a compilation of stories, essays, and poems about the power of prayer in contemporary life. I imagined asking fellow authors to contribute their best creative pieces about praying and meditating. Instantly, the names of two writers who could contribute pieces of writing, as well as collaborate with me on editing the project, came to mind. At that time, I did not know these two people well, but I had confidence in their abilities from our interactions in writing circles. “Have determination to carry the decision through. Many fail here. The decision, budding into determination, is blighted and instead becomes a wish or a vague longing. When determination is born, immediately take the next step.” I sent out emails, made phone calls, and posted on social media. The two people immediately agreed to help me as co-editors for my project. This led to conversations that created action. Each step forward was greeted with overwhelming positivity and excitement. Everyone said, “Yes! Let’s write about prayer and publish a book together!” Over the course of last summer and fall, twenty-some authors sent me their creative pieces. “Have faith and confidence, that the Power of the Holy Spirit will flow through you, the right way will appear, the door will open, the right message, the right principle or the right book will be given to you. Have confidence, and the right thing will come to meet your need. Then as you rise from prayer, immediately take the fifth step.” A Hundred Thousand Hopes quickly took on a life of its own and felt genuinely inspired by a power greater than myself. I was not in the driver’s seat, but was a passenger along for the ride. Whenever I seemed to lose my way, I sat down again to pray and meditate about how to overcome the most current concern. “Act as though it had all been answered. Then act with tireless, ceaseless energy. And, as you act, you yourself will become a magnet which will attract more power to your being, until you become an unobstructed channel for the Divine Power to flow through you.” Now, I need to follow the last piece of advice and act as if it has all been done and the final outcome of the published book has already been achieved. Just writing that last sentence caused an amazing amount of energy to pulse through my body. I feel encouraged to keep working on the project and assured of its success. Now, it is a year after the initial idea was conceived. We are still working on the final steps of publishing this compilation–editing, layout and cover design. We hope that the book will be printed and sent out to readers by the end of the summer (in the northern hemisphere). This method sometimes has an unexpected answer to the question posed during a session of prayers and meditation. Instead of a clear “Yes! Go forward!” there is an unequivocal “No!” or a more gentle, “Now is not the time.” Sometimes the answer is a series of roadblocks that get more firm and more challenging as we push toward an intended goal. This is a turbulent and frustrating experience. One question that I have regularly used in prayer and meditation is this: “If I am not supposed to X, what is the right thing that I should be doing instead?” This has enabled me to gain clarity and feel better about redirecting energy into more propitious paths. Along the path to publishing A Hundred Thousand Hopes, there were some snags and hiccups. The editors needed to make choices about many different things from funding to editing procedures. These were not always the simplest decisions since there are endless good options. However, when we made less-than-optimal choices, the poor results led to new questions and answers. This cycle of learning and iterative decision making was a lesson in humility and adaptability. Things do not always go to plan, but they still can be accomplished in the end. Do you use prayer and meditation in similar ways? Or do you have another method that helps you overcome roadblocks?