New Life 813 – The Shmoneh Esrei (18) Prayer
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz
There are many questions regarding prayer: What should one pray for? Who is the upper force? How do you turn to It? How do you receive from It? How do you thank It?
We have to get closer to the upper force [1], which means to resemble it in our attributes so our prayer [2] will not be egoistic. The prayers were composed by people who attained Godliness and we have to understand what is concealed in them.
All our work in life is to pray, to turn to the upper force that wants to do us good. We have to prepare a deficiency on our part, which means that we should lack exactly what the Creator wants to give us. Otherwise it is like a mother who has prepared porridge for us, but we ask her for candies.
A prayer begins with praise because it is only if the upper force is important to us that we will enjoy the “porridge” that He has prepared for us. After the praise, come the request, when we ask for the correction of our egoistic desires [3]. At the end, we praise the upper force again because if we have undergone the right process, the “porridge” now tastes like heaven.
You cannot turn to the Creator by yourself. He will not listen. Turning to Him requires getting closer through our attributes. Because the Creator’s attribute is to bestow goodness, to do good, we also have to bestow goodness and do good in order to get closer to Him.
The Creator created one man and has shattered him to many parts. By connecting and through the good relations between us, we bring Him contentment.
When we ask for something and don’t receive it, it is because we don’t keep the rule of “make your desire like His desire, so that He will make His desire like yours.” A connection with Godliness means love.
From KabTV’s “New Life 813 – The Shmoneh Esrei (18) Prayer,” 1/17/17
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