© 2017 Guy Stéphane Nyasse
© 2017 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
In all your praying be fair; do not expect God to show partiality, to love you more than his other children, your friends, neighbors, even enemies. But the prayer of the natural or evolved religions is not at first ethical, as it is in the later revealed religions. All praying, whether individual or communal, may be either egoistic or altruistic. That is, the prayer may be centered upon the self or upon others. When the prayer seeks nothing for the one who prays nor anything for his fellows, then such attitudes of the soul tend to the levels of true worship. Egoistic prayers involve confessions and petitions and often consist in requests for material favors. Prayer is somewhat more ethical when it deals with forgiveness and seeks wisdom for enhanced self-control. (UB 91:4.3)
The religious experience of the majority of Africans is reduced to selfish prayer. And the magic of the fifth revelation is that it fully validates and enhances these experiences.
I wish to enable many of our fellow readers (especially Europeans and Americans) to understand the African religious attitude. By understanding our brothers, we will become more like them, and this would be one of the elements to take into account for the dissemination of the teachings of the Urantia Book in Africa.
Not being a saciologist, my personal experience of prayer is undoubtedly the best answer I can offer.
My first experience of prayer: the request of a child who wet the bed.
At 8 years old, I was in middle school 1 and I “wet” the bed! It was terrible for the little boy that I was! I was a good little boy, intelligent but “wetting the bed” ruined my life. Every morning I had to endure the mockery and reprimands of my stepmother. I suffered at that age. This makes me laugh so much today. But it was a great ordeal for the child that I was. Sometimes I changed places with my little brother on the bed. But in the morning the poor guy could not bear the reprimands (which did not concern him by the way) and told the truth.
At the time I had a little culture of prayer. So when I felt overwhelmed, I turned to God. I prayed like this:
“Father, don’t make me pee in bed, forgive me Father, forgive me Father; Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come…”
Imagine! In the morning I was all dry! What joy! No humidity in May, my bed was dry when I woke up, no smell.
“Early prayer was hardly worship; it was a bargaining petition for health, wealth, and life. And in many respects prayers have not much changed with the passing of the ages. They are still read out of books, recited formally, and written out for emplacement on wheels and for hanging on trees, where the blowing of the winds will save man the trouble of expending his own breath.” (UB 89:8.8)
At that age I had a personal experience with God, and in my mind the Father was a real certainty.
Why did this prayer work?
This quote speaks to me and seems to speak to this question:
“Words are irrelevant to prayer; they are merely the intellectual channel in which the river of spiritual supplication may chance to flow. The word value of a prayer is purely autosuggestive in private devotions and sociosuggestive in group devotions. God answers the soul’s attitude, not the words.” (UB 91:8.12)
When the Urantia Book was given to me, these marvelous passages greatly upset my ideas. Autosuggestion would be the key to my answers. One of the methods that allows us to resolve our problems. As I looked into the question I learned that there is a wealth of literature on the subject. Today the concept is very clear in my head, this is not the case for many of our sisters and brothers in Africa who, in need, ask the Father for marriage, children, work, health… And in prayers they make sociosuggestions that sometimes work for those who truly believe and who are in confident expectation.
I was in a reconstituted home. My parents separated when I was 6 and my younger brother 4. I was a frustrated boy, I think I really missed my mother’s love. At 13 in 4th grade I had a group of friends. We attended a high school in a difficult part of town. I was not happy at home, and in the meantime I was the little leader of a group of little school book coloring boys.
This episode of my life has deeply marked me, because until recently I considered myself “lucky” to have escaped it. I did not have a clear explanation. I was happy with my life with my gang. At home my stepmother and my father saw that I had become a bad boy, I no longer went to school and my grades were no longer up to par. And I began to challenge my father’s authority. I did not see my mother much, because my father forbade me to… I still went, but not as much as I would have liked so that he would not lose heart. One of these days my mother was sick, she was really suffering. And at the time when my mother was suffering I suffered too (it’s the same today, it’s just more moderate, because I can take care of her). So I was next to her, calm and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that it was all my fault. I was upset, anxious; I said to her: Mom, what have I done? She said to me:
“Guy, you were my pride, you were a good boy, I knew that through your studies you would get me out of poverty. Today I no longer recognize you, I know that from now on I will die poor.”
These words restored me! The delinquent that was building up disappeared. That day I decided to succeed in my life for my mother. And do you know what I did? I prayed. I asked God for the strength to change, to separate me from my friends, to give me the means. I had sold my own school books, and my father and my mother-in-law did not know it yet. I had decided that when they found out I would take responsibility.
And I did it. They reprimanded me, insulted me and I didn’t say a word. That year I was expelled from high school, and my friends were gone. And today two of my old friends died, killed in the street (papular justice), because they stole.
“Remember, even if prayer does not change God, it very often effects great and lasting changes in the one who prays in faith and confident expectation. Prayer has been the ancestor of much peace of mind, cheerfulness, calmness, courage, self-mastery, and fair-mindedness in the men and women of the evolving races.” (UB 91:4.5)
“In all your praying be fair; do not expect God to show partiality, to love you more than his other children, your friends, neighbors, even enemies. But the prayer of the natural or evolved religions is not at first ethical, as it is in the later revealed religions. All praying, whether individual or communal, may be either egoistic or altruistic. That is, the prayer may be centered upon the self or upon others. When the prayer seeks nothing for the one who prays nor anything for his fellows, then such attitudes of the soul tend to the levels of true worship. Egoistic prayers involve confessions and petitions and often consist in requests for material favors. Prayer is somewhat more ethical when it deals with forgiveness and seeks wisdom for enhanced self-control.” (UB 91:4.3)
At that age, when I decided to succeed in my life, I turned to God, to ask Him for strength and courage. And perhaps my prayers became more ethical, but I note that they nevertheless remained selfish in this aspect. I had prayers of gratitude but they were a little mechanical. The goal of my prayers was to make me a child of God and thus, I would have the means, the courage, the strength and the inspiration necessary to succeed in my life. This is the high level of prayer that we find in Africa. And even, perhaps the level that I describe is high. Prayer allows the most mature Africans to be in conformity with the will of God, so that God gives them the happiness that is summed up in material satisfactions. It is a bit of an exchange.
It is a fact, and I find it valid. My little experience validated it, and this goal made me turn honestly to God. Except that many of our sisters and brothers remain at this level. Very little progress. How was I able to advance, how did I get higher in prayers?
I was a young graduate, I was starting my year at university. I had a beautiful, intelligent girlfriend. I was fine. I prayed, dad was sick, but I had an exemplary life until then, and my entourage bore witness to this. I was poor, I didn’t eat as I wanted, I only had dinner as a meal. But I was happy because my prayers stabilized me and I succeeded at school, I was healthy, and my friends admired me. Something was missing, and I knew it.
I didn’t understand why there were so many religions, so many concepts, and I constantly searched for God.
I started praying to God to show himself to me. Honestly, I asked Him where he is, in all these religions.
I did it regularly and I meditated on biblical themes and I would have answers all by myself (today I understand that these are small self-revelations), Small experiences led me towards yoga (Sahaj Marg). It was wonderful? Meditation on the heart, on the love of God, a form of higher request raised me spiritually. I want to believe that my Adjuster must have rejoiced in it.
I practiced Yoga for a while, until I was 22. My father’s illness covered this period of my life. And at the beginning of 2012, my father was hospitalized, his illness was serious. The doctors told us it was a lung infection. For weeks I was with him in the hospital, taking care of him and watching him die. The philosophy of Yoga taught us that everything is an opportunity. And I was certain that my father would recover. So when I was with him in the hospital, I took the opportunity to teach him that his illness is an opportunity. My father had asked me what part of it I was talking about, because he was suffering and these words perplexed him. When I think about all this, I have a few tears in my eyes. I told him that thanks to his illness, he had the opportunity to restore himself, to forgive everyone and that since he was ill, God would forgive him. So after his illness he would start again on new bases with everyone and even with God. My father died some time later. And I confided all my sadness of the time to God, through the meditations of Yoga. Thanks to meditation, these events determined me. I understood that illness is inevitable and that men have a responsibility.
While the nonselfish type of prayer is strengthening and comforting, materialistic praying is destined to bring disappointment and disillusionment as advancing scientific discoveries demonstrate that man lives in a physical universe of law and order. The childhood of an individual or a race is characterized by primitive, selfish, and materialistic praying. And, to a certain extent, all such petitions are efficacious in that they unvaryingly lead to those efforts and exertions which are contributory to achieving the answers to such prayers. The real prayer of faith always contributes to the augmentation of the technique of living, even if such petitions are not worthy of spiritual recognition. But the spiritually advanced person should exercise great caution in attempting to discourage the primitive or immature mind regarding such prayers. (UB 91:4.4)
My material conditions have not changed since I discovered The Urantia Book. And that has not prevented me from building myself, from having serious plans for my material life and for the expansion of the fifth revelation.
My prayer today is more a prayer of thanksgiving, and I seek the strengths that are available to resolve problems. And God gives them to me. I am continuing my studies to become a chartered accountant, and it is my faith in God that leaves me. I have a little experience on this subject, I would say that I was able to face life in the consciousness of God, I appreciate these words a little. And today I am happy! I repeat that my condition has not yet changed, I have simply experienced the power of the present moment, with God. I substitute gratitude for anxiety, meditation for worry.
“No matter how difficult it may be to reconcile the scientific doubtings regarding the efficacy of prayer with the ever-present urge to seek help and guidance from divine sources, never forget that the sincere prayer of faith is a mighty force for the promotion of personal happiness, individual self-control, social harmony, moral progress, and spiritual attainment.” (UB 91:6.3)
“Prayer, even as a purely human practice, a dialogue with one’s alter ego, constitutes a technique of the most efficient approach to the realization of those reserve powers of human nature which are stored and conserved in the unconscious realms of the human mind. Prayer is a sound psychologic practice, aside from its religious implications and its spiritual significance. It is a fact of human experience that most persons, if sufficiently hard pressed, will pray in some way to some source of help.” (UB 91:6.4)
“Do not be so slothful as to ask God to solve your difficulties, but never hesitate to ask him for wisdom and spiritual strength to guide and sustain you while you yourself resolutely and courageously attack the problems at hand.” (UB 91:6.5)
The Urantia Book will bring this additional technique to Africa. Because here we do not have much material goods and therefore we identify very little with all that. We are more easily grateful for what God gives us as goods and we love him for that. It is primitive, isn’t it? I think it is valid. Africans know God. Maybe not in the best way, it is still a fact. The Universal Father is part of our cultures. Little children’s prayers led me gradually to the Urantia Book, and today I want to serve. I am certain that Africa has a whole potential of young people, with similar experiences, and even more formidable, therefore potentially more touching and more available for the service of God. The moment is favorable. Africa is experiencing an enormous movement of consciousness, and I think that the Urantia Book is welcome. I am determined to found a school of marriage and home for the edification of my environment. What grace offered by God, I run towards an inestimable happiness, a true happiness in fraternal service!
I hope that my young experience will allow you to know more about our African brothers and sisters.
Guy Stéphane Nyasse (Douala, Cameroon February 2017)