by Anthony Nayagan
All of us have inner-wounds, and memories of some of them are so deep-seated in our subconscious mind, they can even be the cause of a variety of social, behavioral, mental, and nervous system disorders.
Spirituality and prayers can heal them; but, they require some reorientations.
Spirituality begins with knowledge of the ‘Self.’ This means that, with the help of God, we need to develop a comprehensive knowledge of ourselves with regard to who and what we are, and what we are equipped with, to the extent we become totally at peace with ourselves. Such peace would invariably lead us to “atma-gnanam,” which is knowledge of the soul. With atma-gnanam, perfection of our human potential as God intends it is absolutely within our reach.
Every trial we encounter in our lives has one purpose, and that is to gain the knowledge of the Self. The process in which we gain such knowledge is the quintessential mystery. The renowned Sufi mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī says,“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Our contemplative meditation must start with one goal in mind, and that is to wipe out all these barriers within ourselves to love. When recall a terrible experience, we naturally harbor all the negativities associated with that experience. Such negativities are the root cause of the disorders we suffer. But these are not negativities alone. There are positivities associated with them as well. No matter what we encounter in our lives, there remains the Will of God. Our spiritual journey is all about gaining that knowledge about His Will in our lives.
For instance, let us consider a form of physical abuse we suffered that subconsciously left a painful scar. We can attribute numerous negativities to that experience, such as injustice, excessive punishment, cruelty, and so on, notwithstanding the incredible pain we suffered as a result. Our subconscious mind invariably stores all these negativities effectively. But, what remains on the opposite is equally important for healing and peace to become effective in our lives.
Let us pray and boldly pursue these without prejudice. With prayers, this venture becomes objective and painless. How did we contribute to this experience? Are we responsible and to what extent were we a part of this experience? Don’t be apprehensive about this journey. Jesus promises, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:25-30). With confidence in Jesus, when we venture into contemplation of our negative experiences, He will reveal to us our contribution to all such negative experiences, as well. Most assuredly, His revelations would be peaceful and we will not encounter terrible pain in confronting our contributions to that terrible experience.
This is how we acquire complete knowledge about our painful experiences. When we have this knowledge, what we do is surrender our complete knowledge to Christ for healing and transformation. Christ takes them upon Himself, readily heals and transforms them, and imbibes in us absolute peace within our subconsciousness. As long as we hold on to anything about these experiences, transformations and healings remain arrested. Therefore, with confidence we must surrender everything. In this surrender, we will be healed of all our inner-wounds. That is a promise!
“I will give you back your health and heal your wounds” (Jeremiah 30:17).
There is an entire chapter dedicated to prayers in the book, Supreme Realization, A Journey into the Depths of Consciousness written by Anthony Nayagan.