The following passages are from various books and articles about the power that human consciousness has to affect the world when focused through prayer or other means. Some excerpts are from a spiritual or religious perspective; others are from a scientific point of view. I am deeply grateful to the authors and publishers of these writings for giving me permission to include them on this website, and I highly recommend reading these books in their entirety. They will raise your consciousness.

Also, after this information is a separate article about scientific research on the power of prayer. Modern science now seems to be proving what the ancient mystics have been saying all along: prayer works.

All of this information is presented here as "food for thought." I hope you find this information interesting and inspiring, and I hope it helps you discover the profound creative power you have within.

SECTION I: CREATING WORLD PEACE

"In the late 1980s, the effect of mass prayer and meditation was documented through studies in major cities where the occurrence of violent crime decreased measurably in the presence of continuous peace vigils held by those trained for the purpose. The studies eliminated the possibility of ‘coincidence’ stemming from natural cycles, changes in social policy, or law enforcement. While a state of calm and peace was created within the study groups, the effects of their efforts were felt beyond the boundaries of the walls and buildings they occupied. Through an invisible network that appeared to penetrate the belief systems, organizations, and social strata of the inner cities, the choice of peace within a few individuals touched the lives of many. Clearly there was a direct, observable, and measurable effect of human behavior correlating with groups focused through prayer and meditation.
      [These studies] followed earlier experiments indicating that as little as one percent of a mass population practicing unified forms of peaceful prayer and meditation was enough to reduce crime rates, accidents, and suicides. Studies conducted in 1972 showed that twenty-four U.S. cities, each with populations over ten thousand, experienced a statistically measurable reduction in crime when as few as one percent (one hundred people for every ten thousand) of the population participated in some form of meditative practice.
      ...For centuries, prophets and sages have suggested that one-tenth of one percent of humanity, working together in a unified effort, may shift the consciousness of the entire world. If those numbers are accurate, then a surprisingly few individuals may plant the seeds of great possibilities. At present the population of our world is estimated to be approximately 6 billion people. One percent of our global neighborhood, then, is represented by 60 million, with one-tenth of that number approaching 6 million people. For scale 6 million people is roughly three-quarters of the population of Los Angeles.
      Although these statistics may represent an optimum number to bring about change, the studies in Jerusalem and the other large population centers [cited in the book] suggest that the numbers to initiate such change may be even smaller! The studies indicate that the first effects of the mass meditation/prayer became noticeable when the number of people participating in the prayers was greater than the square root of one percent of the population. In a city of one million people, for example, this value represents only one hundred individuals!
      Applying the localized findings of the test cities to a larger population on a global scale offers powerful and perhaps unexpected results. Representing only a fraction of even the ancient estimates, the square root of one percent of earth’s population is just under eight thousand people! With the advent of the World Wide Web and computerized communication, organizing a time of coordinated meditation/prayer supported by a minimum of eight thousand people is certainly feasible. Clearly, this number represents only the minimum required for the effect to begin -- a threshold of sorts. The greater the number participating, the greater the acceleration of the effect." (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

(SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. LET’S ALL PUT OUR ENERGIES TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS WORLD A PLACE OF PEACE AND HARMONY!)

      "...It wasn’t world peace, but inner peace (my teacher) stressed. Peace in the world is natural when we experience peace within, he said. We fight wars because we’re afraid of one another. We perceive conflict and hatred because we’re afraid of one another. To bring peace to the world without addressing the conflict where it begins is putting the cart before the horse. All this talk about releasing fear was about realizing that we are both the cause and the solution of our own problems. There is only one problem and one solution. The problem is that we believe we’re alone. The solution is that we’re not." (from Emissary of Light, by James F. Twyman)

      "In my book Recovering the Soul, I discussed evidence from a wide variety of sources, including everyday experiences, suggesting that consciousness is nonlocal. This picture of the mind is quite different from that given in contemporary biology and medicine, which says that the mind is limited to the brain and to the present, and that it will perish when the body dies. But this cannot be entirely true, for there are simply things that ‘mind’ can do that ‘brain’ cannot. The nonlocal view suggests that the mind cannot be limited to specific points in space (brains or bodies) or in time (the present moment), but is infinite in space and time; thus the mind is omnipresent, eternal, and immortal. If minds are indeed nonlocal, this means that in principle they cannot be walled off and separated from one another: at some level they are unitary and one." (italics added) (from Healing Words, by Larry Dossey M.D.)

      "...our role within a unified awareness means that there can be no isolated actions, no ‘them’ and ‘us.’ No longer can we view the conditions of our world as ‘their problems’ and ‘our problems.’ In a field of unified consciousness, each choice that we make and every act we perform in each moment of each day must affect every other person in this world. Some actions produce a greater effect and some a lesser one. Still, the effect is there.
      Each time we choose a new way to deal with the challenges of life, our solution contributes to the diversity of human will that ensures our survival. As one of us pioneers a new creative solution to the seemingly small challenges of our individual lives, we become a living bridge for the next person who finds himself or herself faced with the same challenge, and the next, and so on. Each time one of us faces the condition that others have faced in the past, we have more options from our collective response to draw on. Relatively few individuals may create possibilities that become choices for the whole." (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

      "To change the conditions that allow war, oppression, and mass suffering, we must change the thinking that has allowed the conditions to be present.
      We live in a world of collective consent. The conditions of war and suffering on a large scale mirror the elements that make such conditions possible on a small scale. Sometimes consciously, and sometimes not, we consent to expressions of our group will in ways that we may never suspect. On levels that we may not even be aware of, our thoughts, attitudes, and actions toward one another each day contribute to the collective beliefs that agree to the wars and suffering of the world.
      For example, the creation of a wartime mentality of expecting and preparing for conflict in our international world can happen only if we allow for such conflict in our personal lives. As we live individual episodes of ‘defending ourselves’ in romance and personal relationships, ‘outsmarting’ others in our schools, and ‘out-strategizing’ co-workers and competitors, quantum physics reminds us that these individual expressions of our lives pave the way for similar expressions, amplified by many orders of magnitude, in another time and place. To know peace in our world, we must become peace in our lives. From the quantum perspective, it makes little sense to shove people impatiently out of the way to get to our parked vehicle, then dart in and out of traffic rudely cutting off other drivers as we race across town to a rally supporting global peace." (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

      I once heard a scientist talk about what happens to healthy cells when they become cancerous. I wish I could remember her exact words, but here is the gist of what she said: In the human body, all the different cells work together in cooperation, not competition. This is how the body functions and stays alive. However, when cells become cancerous (as a result of being damaged), they lose the ability to communicate with other cells. They stop cooperating, and start attacking other cells. The problem, as we all know, is that when the cancer cells "win," the result is the eventual death of the host body. By attacking the other cells, the cancer cells end up killing themselves, too! Crazy, isn’t it? In other words, the only way for EVERYONE to survive is when there is harmony and oneness, cooperation and mutual support!

      "...Remember that these lessons are about energy, not form. Form is the result of energy, the result of thought. Without thought form would not exist. When we change the way we think, form changes. This is the essential teaching. Our task is not to change the world, but to change our thoughts about the world." (from Emissary of Light, by James F. Twyman)

      In talking about the "Prayer of Saint Francis," which begins with the line, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace," Wayne Dyer says:
      "You can become an instrument of peace in any given moment of your life by deciding that you are not going to use your mind for anything other than peaceful thoughts. This may sound extreme to you when you take into consideration all the difficult people you have to deal with, your financial picture, the illness of a close relative, the inconsiderate boss you must face, the taxes you owe, as well as outrageous traffic delays, and on and on. Try taking a breather from your habit of continually looking for occasions to be non-peaceful. Go to that quiet, serene, peaceful place within you that is covered by the outer layers of your material life. It is here that you know what being an instrument of peace means. Here, your emphasis is on giving, rather than receiving, peace.
      When you are an instrument of thy peace, you are not seeking anything, you are a peace provider. You do not seek peace by looking into the lives of others and wishing that they would change so that you could become more peaceful. Rather, you bring you own sense of calm to everyone you encounter. You do not go about viewing every circumstance of your life in terms of whether it meets with your standard for peace. Rather, you bring your peaceful countenance to the chaos you encounter and your presence soothes the outer turmoil. Even if the turmoil continues, you have the freedom to choose a peaceful thought, or to quietly remove yourself from the immediate scene. How do you do this? Memorize this line of the prayer and silently repeat it: Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Those chaotic moments are times to remember that you will not gain your peace from anyone else and that you choose to bring peace to every life situation you encounter. Gradually this reality will begin to sink in." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)

SECTION II: WHAT IS "PRAYER?"

"Ancient traditions suggest that the effect of prayer comes from something other than the words of the prayers themselves. Perhaps this offers a clue as to why so many people appear to have lost their faith in prayer. After the biblical edits of the fourth century, details underlying the language of prayer gradually faded from the traditions of the West, leaving only the words behind. During this era, many began to believe that the power of prayer lived in the spoken word alone. Revelations from the pre-fourth-century texts, however, remind us that there are no magic codes of vowels and consonants that open doorways into forgotten realms. The secret of prayer lies beyond the words of praise, the incantations, and the rhythmic chants to the ‘powers that be.’ Through texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, we are invited to live the intent of our prayer in our lives, for if the words are ‘spoken only with the mouth, they are as a dead hive...which gives no more honey.’
      The power of prayer is found in a force that cannot be spoken or transmitted as the written word -- the feelings that the prayer’s words evoke within us. It is the feeling of our prayers that opens the door and illuminates our paths to the forces of the seen as well as the unseen...Though we may speak a prescribed sequence of words handed down for generations, they must generate a quality of feeling within us in order to touch the world around us...feeling is the prayer!" (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

      "As you begin to consider the idea of faster vibrations being synonymous with spirit, remind yourself that we live in a world of invisible energy that we take for granted. Electromagnetic forces all operate on vibrational frequencies that we cannot see, smell, or touch. Think of electricity, radio and television signals, microwaves, fax machines, cellular phones. We know that we can send radio waves out into the atmosphere, bounce them off satellites, scramble and unscramble them, and receive information from the waves. As we increase the frequency of these waves of energy we can send them to distant planets and solar systems, and perhaps, all the way to God and back.
      Isn’t that what prayer is when you get right down to it? An invisible energetic signal sent between your mind field, and the universal mind field which you must be connected to. Otherwise, what would be the point of the prayer? Research has shown that people who pray and are prayed for have higher incidences of recovery. Prayer is an invisible energy vibration that approaches the faster frequencies of spirit. And it works, as research has demonstrated." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)

      The scientific research studies described in this book... "showed clearly that prayer can take many forms. Results occurred not only when people prayed for explicit outcomes, but also when they prayed for nothing specific. Some studies, in fact, showed that a simple ‘Thy will be done’ approach was quantitatively more powerful than when specific results were held in the mind. In many experiments, a simple attitude of prayerfulness -- an all-pervading sense of holiness and a feeling of empathy, caring, and compassion for the entity in need -- seemed to set the stage for healing...
      ...People who achieve success in laboratory experiments utilizing imagery, visualization, or prayer frequently describe a feeling of actually bonding with the object they are trying to influence, whether a machine, animal, or human. Some of the earliest subjects in biofeedback experiments at Harvard Medical School were frequently asked how they managed to control bodily processes that ordinarily operate silently and invisibly -- blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, and so on. They were unable to verbalize how they did it. But when the researchers asked them how they felt when they did it, they began to make statements that sounded genuinely mystical -- ‘becoming one’ with the biofeedback instruments that were measuring the bodily processes, ‘fusing’ with the entire surroundings, and so on.
      In (Dr. William G.) Braud’s analysis, focused attention does more than create pleasant feelings of oneness and unity. ‘Focusing attention upon any object,’ he states, ‘establishes a two-way communication channel with that object -- a channel that can be used to gain knowledge about that object or to influence it.’ After one has opened the channel, images provide the vehicles for carrying information back and forth through that channel. (from Healing Words, by Larry Dossey M.D.)

      "Prayer has often been referred to as a passive act. On many occasions I have been asked what I am ‘really going to do,’ with regard to a particular world crisis. In these instances prayer was viewed as secondary to actually ‘doing something.’ From the perspective offered by ancient traditions and now supported by modern research, our ability to commune with the forces of the cosmos, to choose our path through time and determine our course of future history, may be the single most sophisticated and empowering force to grace our world. Prayer is a concrete, measurable, and directive force in creation. Prayer is real. To pray is to do ‘something!’...
      ...Prayer may be the single most powerful force in creation. Individually, we are given the silent language that allows us to participate in the outcome of events and the challenges of our lives. Together, mass prayer is our opportunity to share in the outcome of our world...
      ...Recent studies into the effects of prayer offer new credibility to ancient propositions suggesting that we may ‘do something’ about the horrors of our world, both present and future. These studies add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that focused prayers, especially those offered on a large scale, have a predictable and measurable effect on the quality of life during the time of the prayer. Documenting statistical changes in daily life, such as specific crimes and traffic accidents, while prayers are offered, a series of studies shows a direct relationship between the prayers and the statistics. During the time of the prayers, the statistics drop. When the prayers end, the statistics return to previous levels...
      ...The foundation is now in place. The data have been measured and the experiments have been run. We have proved, at least under certain conditions, that thought and emotion produce feeling, and that feeling produces the vibratory patterns that affect our world. As we change the quality of our feeling, we change the pattern of the vibration, thus shifting patterns of our outer world." (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

SECTION III: HOW YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS CREATES YOUR REALITY

"Every aspect of your life -- your health, relationships, job, financial circumstances, physical body, happiness, peace of mind -- has been created by your thoughts and beliefs. You are a creator. And because you’re always thinking, you’re always creating. Your every thought is an electromagnetic reality as real as [any physical object], only invisible. But just as invisible microwaves or frequencies exist all around you, frequencies that transmit television shows, cellular phone calls, radio programs, conversations on walkie-talkies, etc., the same is true of your thoughts. Although you cannot see the energy projected by them, it exists. Therefore, you might as well learn how to use your thoughts to your benefit." (from Life: A Complete Operating Manual, by Lauren Tratar)

      "Didn’t it ever strike you as bizarre that our lives should be so rough when we’re all so brilliant? Here we are, this hugely intelligent species that can split atoms, fly to the moon and create the Flintstones, yet we’re all running around blowing each other up, having heart attacks or starving to death. It makes no sense. How did we get into this mess? Or is it just the so-called human condition?
      It all began uncountable eons ago with the first untrue declarations from those who desired power which proclaimed that our lives revolved around, and were the result of, circumstances over which we had no control, including being dominated by others. Since that’s what everybody had believed for untold eons, that’s what we still believe to this day...
      ...The truth is, in our everyday natural state, we have the sacred ability to maneuver this thing called ‘our life’ to be any way we want it to be. Any way! Bar nothing! From a happy family to a filled-in ozone layer.
      So why haven’t the zillions of books written on how to have it all, how to think and get rich, how to visualize our way to success, and how to acquire power through positive thinking shown us how to help ourselves out of this mess? Simple! Every one of those books left out the most important key of all time to life and living:
      We create by feeling, not by thought!
      That’s right, we get what we get by the way we feel, not by trying to slug things into place or control our minds. Every car accident, job promotion, great or lousy lover, full or empty bank account comes to us by the most elemental law of physics: like attracts like. And since most of us haven’t felt too hot about what we’ve had for most of our lives, we’ve become highly gifted masters at attracting an overabundance of circumstances we’d rather not have...
      ...Because we exist on this planet in a predominantly low frequency field of energy born of eight billion people who are vibrating more feelings of stress and fearfulness than joy, we involuntarily take in those vibrations and react to them. Which means that until we consciously learn to override the pervasive low frequencies in which we exist, we will keep recycling unpleasant outcomes into our lives day after tiresome day... ...Whatever we’re feeling is what we’re vibrating, and whatever we’re vibrating is what we’re attracting. Universal law, That’s just the way it is...
      ...[therefore] Remove your focus from any major thing that is currently causing serious fear (worry, concern, anxiety, stress, etc.), AND KEEP IT OFF!" (from Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, by Lynn Grabhorn)

Negative Thinking vs. Positive Thinking

It is important in prayer to have your thoughts, feelings, and emotions all working together, because "When thought, feeling, and emotion are not aligned, each may be considered as out of phase with the others. While there may be brief areas of overlap, much of the pattern is unfocused, working in different directions, independent of the rest of the pattern. The result is a scattering of energy.
      For example, if our thought is ‘I choose the perfect mate in my life,’ a pattern of energy is released that expresses that thought. Any feeling or emotion that is not in sync with our thought is incapable of empowering our choice of a perfect mate. If they are misaligned through feelings that we are not worthy of having such a perfect partner or emotions of fear, our patterns may actually hinder our choice from becoming our outcome. In this nonaligned state we may find ourselves asking why our affirmations and prayers have not worked...
      ...Surprisingly to many people, in itself thought alone has little energy; it is only a possibility with no energy to give it life. This is the beauty of pure thought. In the absence of emotion, there is no power to make our thoughts real. It is our gift of thought in the absence of emotion that allows us to model and simulate the possibilities of life harmlessly, without creating fear or chaos in our lives. It is only in our love or fear for the objects of our thoughts that we breathe life into the creations of our imagination." (from The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden)

      (NOTE: This is why "positive thinking" often doesn’t work! If you’re thinking about something positive, but inside your emotions are full of negative feelings such as fear or anger, you are creating negative outcomes!)

Here’s an example of how negative emotions create negative results:

"From the time we were tiny tots, at least for the majority of us, we learned that the word money equates to struggle, shoulds, musts, have-to’s, gotta’s....We learned how the subject felt to Mom and Dad, to uncles and aunts, to grown-up family friends...We learned the anxiety that surrounds the word, and the anguish...
      ...Because we never learned about flowing energy and getting out of negative vibrations, we spend our lives with thoroughly closed valves over this subject, fighting a battle we can’t possibly win...
      ...Ever since legal tender was first created, no one has had enough. So as we think money, we immediately think ‘not enough,’ and now can you start to see the picture? Money equates to not enough...which equates to lack...which equates to Feel Bad vibrations...which faithfully supplies us more of precisely what we don’t want any more of: lack!...
      ...It’s not about money; it’s about how you’re flowing your energy. The money will come when you stop looking at how much of it you don’t have. You can’t look at ‘not enough money’ and feel anything but negative emotion, which disallows the flow." (italics added) (from Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, by Lynn Grabhorn)

Here’s another example of how negative emotions can create negative results, even when our actions stem from good intentions to help. Consider this:
      "‘I have a mate who is disabled. How can I help him?’
      ‘I have a mate out of work. What can I do to help?’
      ‘I have a brother who is angry at the world. Is there anything I can do?’
      We all want to help. We want to give, or do, or say something that will make it better for someone.
      But take care; a helping hand is not always what it appears to be.
      If you’ll think about those questions for a minute, you’ll see the focus is squarely on the other guy. And when it’s on the other guy’s pain, you’re joining with that vibration, merging it with your own until your valve becomes as closed as theirs. Your focus is on the negative condition, which is giving you more negative feelings than you had to begin with. And even worse, you’re helping your friend to more negativity than they had before you joined up with them vibrationally.
      So how do you help? The first thing to do is get into a good feeling place and get your own valve open before you do any thinking about the person. Then you can inspire -- not insure, just inspire -- that same valve openness in the person you’re thinking about. You’re no longer attempting to paint on their canvas, but you’re genuinely offering them paints and brushes.
      On the other hand, if you keep thinking about how awful it is that your someone has cancer, or is out of a job, or just had their house burn down, that lackful vibration stands to reinforce the lackful vibration they’re already in.
      Instead, as you think about them, see them the way you want them to be. If there’s anything within them wanting to move forward, your bursts of positive, loving energy will have a strong influence on their thinking, feeling, and being.
      That’s why prayers for the sick so rarely work. When we see the one for whom the prayer is being offered as being deficient in some way, we’re coming from a place of lack. We are viewing that person as deficient in some way, when in fact they are every bit as adequate as any power in the universe. They’ve just forgotten; and for a time, so did those of us doing the praying.
      I have a friend whose father was dying of an empty life 3,000 miles away on the opposite coast. Every night as she went to sleep she would send her father healing thoughts, hoping to help him come around. But in her own saddened state, she was seeing him in his lack, alone and melancholy, a pathetic picture of a man without friends, without incentive, without the will to live. He kept getting worse.
      Then she got wind of the Law of Attraction and realized she had been doing exactly the opposite of what had been her intent. After that, as she lay in bed each night, she would see her dad as he used to be: vital, filled with fun, spirited, gregarious. She refelt the wonderful times they had playing tennis together and the merriment of the family ice skating on the local pond. She could feel herself just melt into the joy of those feelings and times. Within three days -- three days! -- her dad called saying he felt better than he had felt in years, and would it be okay if he came out for a visit!
      Was she responsible for this change? Only in providing her dad with an opportunity to pick up these new paints and brushes. She had given him a vibrational leg up, much like we might toss a life-jacket to someone. They can grab it or not; but the choice is theirs, and theirs alone." (from Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, by Lynn Grabhorn)

      "This relentless habit we have of negative thinking is so much a part of how we define ‘normal,’ most of us wouldn’t know who we are without it. We’d lose our footing, for living in that vibration is the same as being hooked on drugs; once hooked, life can’t go on without a fix...
      ...Our need for emotional pain to feel alive, or even for mild discomfort, is the greatest addiction ever known to mankind. Granted, we’ll probably never stop having negative reactions, because contrast is what being physical is all about. But we most certainly can learn to allow the contrast, our likes and don’t likes, without having to feel and flow so much negativity...
      ...But of course it’s fashionable to talk about what’s wrong with everything instead of what’s right, so we’re more easily drawn into negative vibrations than positive, sliding unwittingly into the ‘ain’t it awful’ conversations or starting them ourselves out of habit for lack of anything else better to say. Those vibrations, joined with countless others from all of humankind, eventually show themselves in worldly devastation and chaos. Yes, it’s the amalgamation of all the little ‘ain’t it awful’ vibrations that causes wars, and riots, and terrorism, and anarchy. Those vibrations have come from you, and they have come from me." (from Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, by Lynn Grabhorn)

      "Who are the people who seem to be able to push your buttons and send you into a frenzy? Your spouse? Your children? Your parents? A certain employee? Your boss? A neighbor? I’m talking about the ones who really seem to get to you....It’s those button pushers, the ones who succeed in sending you into a state of frustration and turmoil with a simple look of disapproval or a frown, who are your greatest teachers.
      Begin recognizing that all of these people are your master teachers, assisting you in being an instrument of peace. That’s right, these are your guides, and they have much to teach you. The moments when you think someone else is causing the disorder and chaos that you are feeling are moments to recognize that that person is allowing you to discover that you have not yet mastered yourself. That’s right, you needed a reminder that you have work to do on yourself in order to be an instrument of peace. Remember, the state of enlightenment is a state of being immersed in, and surrounded by peace. Anyone whom you have given authority to remove you from that position is a reminder to you of just what you must do in order to become more peaceful." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)

      "After any episode where hatred has been directed at you, or when you have been a silent witness to hatred, don’t allow the incident to linger in your mind. Futhermore, resist the temptation to discuss the episode or make it the focus of your conversation. Many people, who do not themselves send out hatred, seem to enjoy discussing the hateful ways of others, and tend to make that the focal point of almost all their discussions. On and on they go relating what someone else said, how terrible it was, and how it affected everyone around them. Meanwhile, the present moment environment is reduced to one of hatred by proxy.
      When you talk about another person, make a serious effort to send or direct loving support to their energy field and encourage others to think about and send loving energy to those who seem lost in their hatred. Be the person who promotes the idea that people can change. Ask everyone in your family and circle of friends to direct loving, prayerful guidance toward those who are stuck in their torment of hatred. When you have private conversations, make the focus of your conversation love rather than hatred for the hater. In the moments when you are not witnessing hatred, you can also sow love. Deciding to pray for a person who is filled with hatred makes just as much sense as praying for someone who is ill, or impoverished, or injured in some way." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)

      "Here’s another example of how you can unintentionally become caught up in the Chorus of Pain. As you view and listen to negative reports on television or the radio; stories about murders, heart disease, cancer, pollution, how do you feel? Not good.... Do these stories personally affect your life? Probably not. Do they add to your fear? Probably. Do they add joy to your life? I don’t think so. Do you share these stories with others? More than likely. As a matter of fact, your natural tendency is to share the bad things you observe rather than the good. However, upon doing so, what do you conclude? That our world is a dangerous place and getting worse all the time. In reality, though, our world is not getting worse. It is improving daily by millions of caring people who continually extend acts of love, kindness, and appreciation to others.
      Why doesn’t the media broadcast good news? Simple. It doesn’t sell. We have grown so accustomed to hearing the bad news that we have come to expect it -- it has become our dominant frequency. Can you imagine what it would be like to hear good news? Stories about health flourishing; happy people all over the world. People smiling, being kind, helping one another. Cats purring; birds chirping; the sun rising; the seasons changing. Appliances functioning; flowers blooming; hummingbirds humming; cell phones buzzing; the stock market thriving. People working; the stars glistening; coffee perking; the copy machines copying; the crops growing; airplanes flying.... Look around friends:

GOODNESS IS ABOUNDING -- WELL-BEING IS PREDOMINANT AND EVERYWHERE!!!

More good news? The good in our world far outweighs the bad. And by giving your attention to the good rather than the bad, you can help to amplify this wealth of goodness, for you will then magnetize more of it. So begin today: Stop focusing on the negative conditions that have influenced you and contributed to your feelings of powerlessness. Begin today: Become aware of how you start conversations and now share all you find to be good -- things that you appreciate -- rather than discussing a problem, situation, or person you disagree with. Begin today: Ask yourself if you are having pleasant thoughts and ‘change stations’ if you’re not. Begin today: View each situation that arises in your life as an opportunity to respond with a frequency of love, rather than fear. Begin today: Keep your dial set to the frequency of the Chorus of Joy. BE the love that you are, for when you begin to become conscious of what you are doing in each Moment, you will help to create a Heaven upon our Earth. Remember, life is meant for living, loving, and laughing, and it begins with you!" (from Life: A Complete Operating Manual, by Lauren Tratar)

"SHIFTING FROM PESSIMISM TO OPTIMISM: It is important here to remember that energy has a frequency. In the frequency of despair the energy is low and you feel depressed or upset. "I’m feeling down today,’ describes the despair you feel when your energy is in these low frequencies. As long as you remain in that lowered frequency you will continue to attract more of that kind of energy. People who live in a constant state of mental despair never allow themselves to speed up and experience the faster higher frequencies which lead all the way to spiritual energy. Instead they fuel their low and slow energy by processing almost every event from a pessimistic viewpoint. As soon as you identify with "Life is difficult,’ that is precisely what your experience has to be. As always, the central law of the universe prevails: "As you think, so shall you be.’...
      ...Sadness is an attitude that is habituated over a lifetime of focusing on what is wrong and missing in our lives. I love the writing of Anthony DeMello, particularly this astute observation, "There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have.’ Sadness is a habit of processing the world from a perspective of lack by constantly thinking about not having enough of what you feel entitled to such as, money, health, love, friends, or even free time. On and on go the thoughts, which create a feeling of sadness.
      Joy, on the other hand, is a way of processing the world from the perspective of what you have and what is right. Joyful people rejoice in their strengths, talents, and powers and do not compare themselves to anyone. They are not intimidated by the strengths, possessions and powers of anyone else. Joy comes from rejoicing in all that you are, all that you have, all that you can be and from knowing that you are divine, a piece of God...
      ...Finding joy means consciously deciding to process your life in ways that focus on gratefulness for what you have. You can cultivate this attitude by refusing to allow yourself to think in terms of scarcity. Being joyful means thinking joyful thoughts even when you are tempted otherwise." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)

      "Your personal power is as unlimited as you would have it be. You are under no restriction of age, gender, education, or experience. The only thing that can bind you is your mind, and that is something over which you have total control. You are a free soul, and if you do not allow fear to stand between you and your vision, you will walk with dignity upon the earth and bring healing to the world.
      The world cannot defeat you. Only you can defeat yourself. There have been many persons who have caught a glimpse of their personal power, and moved with that vision. One morning they woke up and realized that they were not small. They understood that those who told them that they couldn’t make it were seeing but their own illusions of limitation. And then they went out and did something about it. The difference between an ordinary person and a saint is that the ordinary person dismisses his dreams as fantasies, and a saint takes a step to making them realities. Never underestimate the power of your vision." (from Lifestyles of the Rich in Spirit, by Alan Cohen)

Love vs. Fear

I have heard said many times, in many ways, that there are really only two states of consciousness that human beings have, and everything we think, feel and believe boils down to either one or the other: LOVE or FEAR. If we eliminate fear, all we are left with is LOVE. Consider these words from James F. Twyman’s book, Emissary of Light:
      "...The goal of releasing fear is to remember your essential self and your spiritual union with all creation...Your job will be to help people identify those blocks (fears) so they can remember who they are. You can do this in two ways. The first is to identify each manifestation of fear, each instance and situation in which fear presents itself, then use a tool or technique to dissolve it. The problem with this method is that it takes a great deal of time to identify each and every fearful thought lurking in each of the dark corners of the mind.
      The second method is to release the foundation of fear, or in other words, your first fearful thought. This is the thought upon which each subsequent fearful thought has been based. This first thought marks the beginning of delusion, the foundation of an illusory thought system that has influenced and controlled your perception of the world, yourself, each brother and sister, and God. Listen closely, because this is the key to the release of fear. The first fearful, untrue, and illusory thought on which every other thought is based is simply this: You are separate from God. In perceiving yourself as separate from God, you have created a world where you are separate from and threatened by everything. And yet if the foundation of fear is false, then so is each thought that has come from that foundation. Take away this belief and everything above it crumbles. Every building has a cornerstone. If the cornerstone is removed then the building cannot support itself. There is no need to release all the surrounding blocks of fearful beliefs you have. Simply release the idea that you are separate from God and the dream of separation ends on its own." (from Emissary of Light, by James F. Twyman)

      "Many teachers, psychologists, and consciousness trainers have intelligently and productively identified the dynamics of the dark shadow [the parts of ourselves we don’t like and don’t want to face]. But there is one aspect of shadow-making that has rarely been illuminated: the white shadow.
      The dark shadow is projected when we are unwilling to accept our faults. The white shadow is projected when we are unwilling to accept our beauty. If we are afraid of being beautiful we hurt ourself as much as we do when we are afraid of being ugly. We cannot afford to be afraid, and the most direct way to disarm the fear in our life is to undo the fear of ourself.
      In some of my workshops I ask the participants to take a sheet of paper and list their positive traits in one column, and their negative traits in another. Then I ask each person to stand up and share their list with the members of the class.
      You would not believe the length of the negative lists, and the brevity of the positives! Most people have little difficulty describing what is wrong with them, but when it comes to reading the list of their wonderful attributes, they inject a symphony of ‘uh’s,’ ‘sort-of’s,’ and screwed-up faces. Most of us are embarrassed to be beautiful, and that is a great problem indeed! The white shadow is projected when we are afraid to own our goodness." (from Lifestyles of the Rich in Spirit, by Alan Cohen)

      "...According to Teacher, when we release our fear the rest happens automatically. Fear paralyzes us and hides the joy and freedom that’s always right in front of us. Releasing fear is like opening our eyes. As long as our eyes are closed we can’t accept the gifts that are already ours. The more fear we release, the more we can see. It begins with small steps, but each step shows us that the demons and dragons we hide from are illusory. Their seeming reality is based on and nourished by our fears. In the end we walk right through them as if they were mist. There is no battle. There never was a war. The dragons have always been windmills that our minds made large and ominous.
      ‘Fear is the only thing that is standing between you and your experience of love,’ (Teacher) said to me one day as we sat beside a river. ‘It seems you are afraid of so many things, perhaps everything. The ego searches for and finds everything it can to latch on to and make fearful. But the fear was there already. It was already within you. It seems we are afraid of this thing or that, but in reality we are only afraid of one thing -- love itself. And because we are in truth the very essence of love, we are afraid of ourselves. We therefore create a false-self, one that is vulnerable and easily attacked. This keeps us from seeing the source of fear, our own mind, and lets us point to an endless number of things that seem to be out of our control in order to justify our fear.
      ‘And what makes you think you don’t deserve love? What ever happened that makes you hide from who you really are? Does it really even matter? There comes a time when you get tired of these questions. There comes a point when nothing means anything and you fall flat on the ground and ask for help. You’re tired of hiding. You’ve been defending yourself for so long that you can’t hold your arms up anymore. You surrender. You just can’t play the game anymore.
      ‘And that’s when it happens. Suddenly you open your eyes and see something incredible. Your own holiness and innocence are held out to you, shining in perfection.’" (from Emissary of Light, by James F. Twyman)

      "The overriding objective of this book is to convey to you the importance of living a joyful life and how your joy adds to the collective joy in our world. Therefore, to ensure your magical life, it’s important to commit fifteen minutes a day to ‘go to work.’ Life in the old paradigm is rampant with powerful vortexes of negative energy that can pull you in their whirlwinds quite easily, therefore it is essential that you constantly choose what you want for your life experience. As you identify and clearly state what you want, you will not attract experiences that you don’t want! Living in the Information Age, where you are continually inundated with events occurring all over the globe, it is exceedingly difficult not to be influenced or absorbed by all of it. So, rather than living your life putting out all of the brush-fires you created unconsciously by focusing haphazardly, and creating ‘good stuff’ only occasionally, deliberately order what you want. By placing your orders daily, you will automatically sift through the vast amount of information you are exposed to and magnetize only what you choose. This will leave you refreshed and stimulated, moving ahead, open fully to life." (from Life: A Complete Operating Manual, by Lauren Tratar)

      "The vibration of appreciation is the highest, fastest vibration we can use for attraction. If we would shoot appreciation at anything and everything...all day long...we’d be guaranteed to have heaven on earth in no time, living happily ever after with more friends, more money, more beautiful relationships, in total safety, and closer to the God of our Being than it’s possible to fathom." (from Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, by Lynn Grabhorn)

Healing

"Various esoteric sources have long suggested that human beings are capable of healing one another by utilizing the special energy potentials which are brought into each lifetime. This healing ability has had many names through the centuries, including laying-on-of-hands healing, psychic healing, spiritual healing, and Therapeutic Touch. Only in the last several decades has modern technology and the consciousness of enlightened scientists evolved to the point where laboratory confirmation of subtle energetic healing has been made possible." (from Vibrational Medicine, by Richard Gerber, M.D.)

      "If scientists suddenly discovered a drug that was as powerful as love in creating health, it would be heralded as a medical breakthrough and marketed overnight -- especially if it had as few side effects and was as inexpensive as love. Love is intimately related with health. This is not sentimental exaggeration. One survey of ten thousand men with heart disease found a 50 percent reduction in frequency of chest pain (angina) in men who perceived their wives as supportive and loving....
      ...David McClelland, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School, has demonstrated the power of love to make the body healthier through what he calls the ‘Mother Teresa effect.’ He showed a group of Harvard students a documentary of Mother Teresa ministering lovingly to the sick, and measured the levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) in their saliva before and after seeing this film. (IgA is an antibody active against viral infections such as colds.) IgA levels rose significantly in the students, even in many of those who considered Mother Teresa ‘too religious’ or a fake. In order to achieve this effect in another way, McClelland later discarded the film and asked his graduate students simply to think about two things: past moments when they felt deeply loved and cared for by someone else, and a time when they loved another person. In his own experience, McClelland had been able to abort colds with this technique. As a result of his personal experiences and research, he became an advocate for the role of love in modern healing....
      ...But can love and caring do more than act within a person? Is it powerful enough to act at a distance between individuals, overcoming separation in space and possibly in time? Can love unite people over geographical distances even when the ‘receiver’ is unaware that love is being offered? This is a way of asking if prayer works; because when one person prays for the welfare of another, the person who prays is extending compassion, empathy, and love. Can these qualities genuinely ‘reach out?’
      One of the greatest scholars and researchers in the history of parapsychology, F.W.H. Myers, was struck by the fact that people who were ‘telepathic’ with each other -- people who could share thoughts at great distances -- were frequently connected emotionally with one another deeply and lovingly. Myers concluded that love, empathy, and compassion somehow made it possible for the mind to transcend the limitations of the body. Love was so important in this process that Myers honored it by giving it a place in a natural ‘law.’ As he put it, ‘Love is a kind of exalted but unspecialized telepathy; -- the simplest and most universal expression of that mutual gravitation or kinship of spirits which is the foundation of the telepathic law.’" (from Healing Words, by Larry Dossey M.D.)

      "Everything in our universe is nothing more than energy. That is, at the very core of its being, everything is vibrating to a certain frequency....Slower frequencies appear more solid and this is where our problems show up....Faster frequencies such as light and thought are less visible....The fastest frequencies are what I am calling spirit....When the highest/fastest frequencies of spirit are brought to the presence of lower/slower frequencies, they nullify and dissipate those things we call problems....You have the ability and the power to increase your energy and access the highest/fastest energies for the purpose of eradicating any problems in your life...
      ....Love and love alone dissolves all negativity, not by attacking it, but by bathing it in higher frequencies, much as light dissolves darkness by its mere presence." (from There’s A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, by Wayne Dyer)