Presence in Prayer of Divine Inquiry
“Presencing Spiritual Knowing” – image by Dalmo Mendonça
Part Seven: Whole-Body Mystical Presencing
“God, help me!”
This might be the most common prayer there is and has been. I would guess almost everyone reading this has prayed it at some point. Perhaps in a moment of desperation, perhaps in a time of childlike simplicity, perhaps this morning. Sometimes it’s not even said in words, but just a silent reaching out to the beyond. Even those who don’t believe in God have still been found to offer up this prayer in their darkest moments.
Asking for help is one of the most fundamentally human things we can do. And asking God for help is when we reach beyond what we are capable of, beyond what anyone else can do for us, beyond what would seem in the scope of possibility.
Some don’t believe in an interventionist God. And if we’re talking about Zeus casting lightning bolts down to smite the wicked, we have enough evidence to probably agree.
As we practice Whole-Body Mystical Presencing—which is a practice to enter the everyday reality of Christ consciousness, a moment-to-moment permeation of divine spirit—God is already here in our midst and within us at any and all times. Intervention is most often what we do as God’s presence in action, which will be the focus of next week’s article.
But we can still ask God for help—it just looks a little different now when we are showing up in divine presence ourselves. It’s not something totally separate and beyond us, but it is also not entirely self-contained in the singularity of our particular personhood and our normal capabilities.
And, of course, prayer is not just asking for help. When we presence at any moment into our divine participation, we open our consciousness into wider channels of connection with deeper wisdom, loving care, and guidance.
This is presencing the practice of divine inquiry, calling upon our more integrated and holistic spiritual knowing at any and all times in our lives.
In part two of this series, we came to see how prayer can be presence itself, not just seeking to connect to God “out there.” As we live and dwell in this prayer of presence, we can return to prayer as an expression coming from divine presence in us and resonating with divine presence speaking with us.
Inner Resonance – Praying in Receptivity
In our WeSpace groups, we practice Resonating Prayer, which is a way we attune to our spiritual knowing. After coming into a place of more awakened consciousness through a WBMA meditation, we focus on a person, sending love and energy to them. We also sense into our inner state of being to see what is arising in emergent consciousness for them, what spirit is speaking through words, images, feelings, bodily sensations, and more.
We call this “spiritual knowing” because it differs from our everyday, ordinary consciousness. They are not just random thoughts, contrived imaginations, or extrapolations from what we see with our ordinary eyes. We are practicing training our spiritual eyes to see with the loving awareness of divine presence in care, support, and love.
We can turn this eye upon ourselves as well, at any moment.
In WBMP, we can integrate this practice into our daily lives by welcoming this state of being within us, present in inner resonance. For Whole-Body Mystical Presencing is not just about sensing or feeling a certain way in our awareness, but also transforming how we live in any and every moment.
When faced with a question, a choice, a problem, or a situation—anything really—we can meet it with more than our usual faculties of knowing and responding. We can attune to our holistic presence in divine participation at any moment and place it in the center of our focus with our whole being. Rather than opening to emergence for another, we are presencing our spiritual knowing for this moment of our life.
We hold it in a posture of divine inquiry, and then we engage in receptive attunement to spirit speaking forth in wisdom, guidance, and love—to ourselves.
This can be done for even the smallest of life decisions or situations. In conversation, a pause and deep breath, attuning to our holistic presence, sensing what to say next. At the beginning of your day, rather than just setting an agenda based on what needs to get done, attuning to spirit and asking what might be given for the day to be or do. When on your way somewhere, sensing a deeper invitation to a way of being for what’s coming.
We are asking our true self, our divine being, our Christ consciousness within. And then we are listening as well with this same being, attuned in inner resonance with our most authentic being to receive.
“A transformation of self is usually necessary to be able to participate in spiritual knowing, and this knowing, in turn, draws forth the self through its transformative process in order to make possible this participation.” – Jorge Ferrer
“Divine Attunement” – image by Dalmo Mendonça
Recognizing “Answers” to Prayer – Divine Resonance
What does this feel like? How do we know when we are in the state of inner resonance and receptivity? How do we know our prayer is being answered by more than just our own whims, wishful thinking, and projections of hope?
In many ways, discernment is the most crucial part of the practice. We learn by repetition, developing our capacity and sensitivity. It’s one of the reasons why we practice it in our WeSpace groups, in a supportive environment with time to sense and share. It also lets us receive feedback from others, which helps us recognize and come to trust this way of sensing and receiving.
With more practice, we come to identify the feeling in our bodies. There is a different tenor or flavor to that which is coming forth from our spiritual knowing. It is like our own usual thoughts, but also slightly different. Our mental faculties are certainly at play, recognizing but not necessarily evaluating based on rational criteria. It is a whole-body knowing and resonance. Sometimes people even have an outward form of recognition, such as goosebumps or a slight tremor or truth. A heart warmth or intuitive flow.
Again, it takes practice and affirmation because our mental, egoic mind is often quite resistant. It wants us to believe we can’t trust our deeper knowing, only the seemingly-in-control thoughts we have in our head. It’s how so many of us have lived most of our lives in the prison of the mind, held captive by the dominant and exclusive rule of our thoughts.
But that is not the truth of our whole being, of our holistic divine presence. The more we learn to live in this way of being, the more we will come to trust, to know, to feel the resonance of deeper reality that is present when we live in this way.
It might not come easy—which is why we need spaces to practice. Remember, Whole-Body Mystical Presencing is an evolution and step of development from Whole-Body Mystical Awakening. As we practice more and awaken to our holistic, embodied divine participation in times of mediation and WeSpace, we can develop the capacities to integrate this into the everyday more and more.
Receiving from Our Guides
We can be empowered in our divine inquiry by knowing and experiencing how we presence to the deeper wisdom within, coming from spirit consciousness of God within us.
And, we also still have the humility to accept we won’t find it all within. We never have all of the answers, all of the direction, all of the understanding. We have blockages and shadows that limit our knowing. We always have the gift of our unique perspective—and the limitations of it as well.
Fortunately, we are not alone. We are not left to fend for ourselves in the inner realms of spirit, only able to discern by ourselves and apart from spirit in its fuller form, the perichoresis/divine dance of communal participation. We have one another, the great gift of community and spiritual support.
And we have the capacity and opportunity to tune into the guidance and wisdom from beyond, drawing upon the personal presence and forms of the intimate face of God-Beside-Us. Our spirit guides. They are here with us. They have insight and understanding far beyond our limited capacities. Often, they are just waiting for us to ask them.
For they too can bring answers to our divine inquiries. They can guide us, as they are a great source of spiritual knowing in the form of divine spirit meeting us relationally.
Receiving answers from them will be a similar process, feeling into what is offered and sensing for resonance with our whole-being. It takes practice as well, and like any relationship, develops more in trust and understanding over time. If you’re unfamiliar with spirit guides and how to connect with them, you can learn more from this series of articles.
I’ve been particularly struck by something in my relationship with my guides. When I bring an inquiry before them, so often the answer they give isn’t an action or direction. It’s simply a presence of attentive care and loving support.
For divine inquiry is not only about what we do, what we decide. It is also about receiving the loving support and affirmation of who we are in our being, as we are. It is about acceptance and walking alongside through the thick of it—not just knowing the answer of which way to go.
It’s about presence. And their loving presence gives us the comfort, strength, encouragement, and support to be who we fully are in our wholeness.
The Blessing of Guadalupe
Have you forgotten?
I am your mother.
You are not alone.
You are under my protection.
Anything you need,
Ask me.
Do not worry about anything,
Am I not here-
I who am your mother?
Have you forgotten?
I love you, and
You are under my protection.
Practicing Divine Inquiry at Any Moment
At any moment in life, when a question or situation arises, we can practice Whole-Body Mystical Presencing into prayer of divine inquiry. We presence into our awakened consciousness, opening up to receiving wisdom from divine source, arising from within in attunement or being offered by our guides with us.
It might take shape as an actual question to God-Being-Us: “What is my best response to this situation?” And then we listen not for a distant voice but the deeper wisdom from within.
Or we turn to our guides: “Jesus, what is your wisdom for me in this situation?” And we listen for a voice, which usually comes not audibly but within our head, like a thought but received. We learn our guide’s voices the more we listen and recognize the resonance we feel when hearing them.
The practice below breaks down this process into steps, which you can use to help develop the habit. Over time, you won’t need to parse each step out, and it will only take a moment to move through them.
The more we presence to our fullness in response to the situational arisings of our life, the more we will experience our life in greater wisdom, guidance, and care. We will find more of a peaceful ease and grace navigating life’s contours with holistic engagement.
And we will be compelled to act in new ways in response to this way of being. Our fuller presence will call forth action in our lives—which will be our focus in next week’s article.
A Practice of Whole-Body Mystical Presencing:
WBMP is a process that is practiced all throughout your day. It is a turning at any possible moment in which you can remember to do it. These practices do not work if just thought of at random. They take specific intention and dedication to first develop new neural pathways, and then over time the grooves are established so that the practice flows more naturally. But intentional, committed repetition is necessary to get to this place.
In-the-moment Inquiry – Spiritual Knowing from Presence
As we cultivate our spiritual knowing and whole-body awakened presence in spirit consciousness, we can attune to divine inquiry in any moment of our day. When a situation arises that calls forth a question, you can take the following steps to begin:
Pause – Engage with whole-being presence in the current moment inquiry.
Ask – Bring forth the question or choice in loving awareness.
Open – Welcome spiritual knowing from within or from a guide.
Discern – Sense the resonance or dissonance from what is arising in your whole body. If the first response is not in resonance, release it, and then return to being open and receptive.
Accept – If an answer comes, we accept in trust. If not, we accept in trust that we are enough and our presence is the answer for now.
It’s important to engage in this process with a degree of mental relaxation and ease. We are not searching with our mind for past knowledge or trying to remember something we’ve learned before. Rather, our head center serves in this process by being open and receptive. It is not shut off or ignored but rests in the relief of not having to totally run the show and figure it all out. It has its place, and we can receive from our mind as well, in harmony with all of our centers of spiritual knowing and sources beyond ourselves (like our guides).