​I would not want to be so entangled in willful ignorance that I could not find the path to wisdom. I would not want to be so blinded by the darkness of intolerance that I could not find the light of acceptance. I would not want to be so committed to hate, that I am unable to open my heart to love. In writing these words, it occurred to me that there is a well-known prayer that also speaks of these ideas:
 
Prayer of St. Francis
 
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is sadness, joy;
where there is darkness, light.
O Divine one, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
not so much to be understood, as to understand;
not so much to be loved, as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

​If we are all One, part of a whole brought into manifestation by the Creative Spirit, how is it possible to have a spectrum of attitudes ranging from negative and pessimistic to positive and optimistic? The idea is to progress within the universe, for what good would a universe be if, after being created, it didn’t grow? If there was an expectation of no growth after creation, we would all be exactly the same, rather than richly diverse, and within freewill exists the choice to exist in and of the white light, or to plunge into the dross found in the darkness. It is the want of humankind, indeed of every being that exists across the universe in whatever form it was brought into existence, to strive to evolve toward the light found within and through the energy of love. Namaste!

​Prayer is important. Prayer is very important. It sends an intent; it asks the universe, the Creative Spirit, to listen to you and perhaps to help along whatever your prayer might be. Importantly, prayer works within the energy of love, which is the most effective energy in the universe. It totally beats out the energy of hate. It is stronger. The reason it is stronger is that it is the force that the Creative Spirit used to create everything in the universe. We are part of the whole that exists within and through the energy of love, so when we pray, we are actually reaching out with that internal and eternal energy to that same energy within someone else to comfort them, maybe to heal them, to give them strength in their time of need. So prayer is important as long as it is done through the energy of love. Namaste!