Welcome everyone.
This is Guy Findley and we're going to look at our fifth prayer for self-transformation.
And it's worth noting that this fifth prayer is intimately connected to the first prayer that we had,
Which was called,
Go Silent Before Your Enemies.
Because the fifth prayer is called,
Give Up the Last Word.
This prayer in action is all about beginning to understand that what is true needs no defense,
And what is false can't be defended.
And more importantly,
Our ability to understand that so thoroughly that it becomes part of the way in which we relate to the world and everyone in it around us.
Most of us know pretty intimately the painful,
Unconscious idea that not having the last word in an argument with husband,
Wife,
Friend,
Employee or employer,
Pretty much amounts to losing ourselves in that same moment.
And because of that fear of losing ourselves,
Of what we mentally,
In a way,
Evaluate as being worth fighting for,
That sense of ourselves compels us,
Literally,
To verbally fight with anyone that threatens that image we have of ourselves and of what's valuable.
But we can do so much better than that with this new understanding,
Which is as part of an active prayer to choose to consciously drop this losing war of words,
And watch how the inner and outer worlds part by themselves,
Meaning how in those moments,
We,
Who would ordinarily be trying to have the last word to ensure that we've won,
Are present enough to the parts of ourselves trying to push us into that battle that we see.
If we take the side of that part of ourselves,
We've already lost the battle.
This special spiritual understanding,
And I'll admit,
The hard self-work that it calls for,
Helps us in every other area of our inner and outer life as well.
You see,
In learning to turn and walk away from arguments in the outer world,
We're slowly earning the spiritual strength we need to let go of those same interior battles,
Those dark inner dialogues we have with ourself,
Where,
As funny as it sounds,
But in one respect,
So important to see,
We're actually trying to win and have the last word with ourselves.
It would be more futile than an argument in our own mind where each part of us,
That divided consciousness,
Keeps trying to have the last word.
No one wins any dark inner dialogue except for the unconscious nature that drags us into it to begin with.
Give up the last word to someone,
Anyone,
Who's obviously glad to take it.
Let that person win whatever it is that they think they've won,
Because we understand now the false perception that anyone wins that kind of fight.
Winning illusions isn't worth losing ourselves,
Compromising ourselves,
Over and over again,
Hoping that by winning this particular conflict,
We'll come to the end of that conflicted nature responsible for all those battles.
Let the world outside of you have all its temporary conquests,
While you secretly claim the internal victory that wins something eternal for yourself.
There's great hope in this kind of prayer in action,
As there have been in all of the five prayers that we've looked at together.
Let us work at these.
Let us take one of them every day with us wherever we go,
Because we can be sure that we're going to run into a situation where we can put that prayer in action,
And by making it actionable,
Begin to transform ourselves and,
I would add,
Everyone and everything else around us in that moment,
Because when we're no longer the same,
The world around us is no longer the same either.
I do hope you'll join me for the last of these talks that we've had,
Where I'm going to summarize all of this into something that should be not only encouraging,
But empowering,
As we learn to understand the power of prayer in action and what it means to fulfilling ourselves and all of our wishes to be whole and happy human beings.
