My commute to work includes a subway ride from lower Manhattan to Grand Central Station. Lately, instead of reading, I've been praying. Not my usual door-shut, eyes-closed, all-alone-with-God prayer. It's a new kind of praying for me. It's praying with my eyes wide open.
What do my eyes see? They see a slice of the world—people of different races, languages, religions, cultures—all ages and descriptions. As we pour out into the terminal, it's apparent what was meant when Grand Central Station was described as the "crossroads of a million lives."
Grand Central Station, NBC Radio Blue Network, 1937.
What does my praying heart see? The variety of spiritual creation radiating earnestness, consideration, expectation, joy, trust, kindness—a bouquet of God's children glorifying their Maker through purposeful lives.
Prayer could be described as seeing lovingly. As I look around the subway car while praying in this way, I note a readiness in others to respond. Even while terrorist threats suggest that a routine trip to work could be dangerous, there is something more universal among these travelers than fears and threats. It is an innate ability to perceive love and to love. A divine, loving Presence influences the atmosphere.
That silent influence causes tangible mutual kindnesses to occur. Encouraging smiles are exchanged, someone slides over or moves a bag to make room, eyes soften. Someone whispers an "excuse me" in the jostle. Small things? Maybe. But perhaps they are actually big things, for they indicate an enormous, somewhat overlooked resource from which the world can be bettered. Just as the perfume released from a bottle changes the atmosphere, a whiff of improved mental scent goes far beyond its immediate surroundings.
Prayer-based thought, without boundaries, can be utilized to better the world. Mary Baker Eddy describes this kind of prayer: "True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer begets an awakened desire to be and do good."
No and Yes, p. 39.
Goodness was the core of Jesus' mission. It had meek beginnings, yet the world is still impacted by it. What gave it such force was the fact that its source was omnipotent Love, God. The universal and eternal message of God is the Christ-love. That message is still here today. No one owns it. It is available to everyone to be utilized—practiced and felt! Love is the power impelling every kind word and deed. It is humanity's basic inclination. It transforms and renovates whatever it touches.
About two years ago extensive renovations were completed on Grand Central Station. The vast ceiling, a leaden charcoal grey color, was washed, and returned to a vibrant turquoise. The constellations painted in gold leaf were brought back to their original gleam, with lights representing the stars. But those constellations do not match the patterns in the night sky. An architect's terrible mistake? No, the constellations may have been designed to be viewed as though one were looking at them from above—from a heavenly perspective, from "God's view."
What would be seen if everything was viewed from a spiritual vantage point? Calm would be seen where there appears to be fear, health where disease appears, and order instead of disorder. Then people would see what God intended when He concluded that creation "was very good" and confirmed that "it was so."
Gen. 1:30,31. This is actually how things are. The divine view is instructive as a way of viewing not only those in a subway car, but everyone, everywhere—universally. God sees the perfect universe She designed, made, and maintains. The world improves as each individual agrees with that high viewpoint, looking through a spiritual lens.
"Sooner or later the whole human race will learn that, in proportion as the spotless selfhood of God is understood, human nature will be renovated, and man will receive a higher selfhood, derived from God . . ."
Unity of Good, p. 6. wrote Mary Baker Eddy.
Can that higher selfhood be seen? Yes, if it can be seen on a subway, it can be seen in railway and airline terminals, in neighborhoods, in cities, in countries, among countries. Humanity's final destination? A better world united through the innate ability God gave us all to see with loving hearts, through prayer.
