Over the years I’ve been asked this question countless times. The short answer to the first question is yes, but there are a thousand nuances to that answer since at some point it all exists within our Higher Consciousness which is aware that we may be praying and meditating at the same time. So let’s take a look at how they are different, how they are similar, and how they related to affirmations and thought forms.

I gave you this core material about 8 years ago, and have totally rewritten it, adding a lot for explanation. This is a huge subject which involves the nature of our Higher Awareness guiding our ego-mind which continually sends and receives thoughts and feelings as we move through the intersection of Fate Street and Freewill Street dancing down Eternity Boulevard. So let’s begin with the title question: Is Meditation Different Than Prayer?

Prayer and Meditation

About 50 years ago I remember hearing someone say “a prayer is when you talk to God; a meditation is when you listen to God.” That seems reasonable, since Life is about sending out productive ideas and thoughts, as well as listening to the still small inner voice which guides us through life’s trials and changes. Occasionally we listen for signals from within and without for guidance so we may do the right things, and everyone sends out thoughts, dreams, wishes, desires, and aspirations.

As “God” is “All-That-Is,” then we can infer that “God” is the electromagnetic field around us which gives reality to our hopes and dreams. We literally “dream” our experience into being, as it is the emanation of our desire given form by our ideas. Our prayers become the expression of our aspiration and gratitude, and our meditations become the way we understand why sometimes the answer is “yes” and sometimes the answer is “no.”

Both prayer and meditation have their place in our dialog with the Divine, since they deal with giving and receiving types of energy within the greater Spiritual field within which we live, breathe, and have our Being. And of course, there are both spoken and unspoken prayers, just as we can be meditating without being aware we are meditating. Some of my highest experiences came when I stopped “meditating” and simply merged with Being at One in the moment without my mind measuring or evaluating anything.

How Affirmations Are Similar and Different From Prayers

An affirmation is like a prayer, except it is shaped to a specific intention and is usually more focused than a prayer. A prayer is asking “God” (or “All-That-Is”) to make something happen. With an affirmation, WE create an energy pattern in space and time with a specific focus on the vibrational quality of the affirmation we’re sending out.

Affirmations are not a request for anything of anyone, whether Divine or human. They are simply the affirmation of certain concepts, or energy patterns, which we want to see made manifest. Affirmations can be for something to be made real, something to be transmuted, or something to be dissolved.

Again, if a prayer is "speaking to God," and meditation is "listening to God," then affirmations and thought form building are us "participating with God" to bring forth something we believe is true or good for us or another or the world. Some consider meditating with Mala beads or a Rosary to be a prayer, while others both pray and meditate while affirming a better world. Ultimately all of these help us participate in bringing forth the infinite blessings available to those who want to know Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

Affirmations and Building Thought Forms

Basically, all affirmations are crafted thought forms. Creating an affirmation is the same as crafting a thought form. Crafting thought forms requires a knowledge of how to express intention, purpose, and possibility with precision. An imprecise thought form will create an imprecise result. Since all is frequency and vibration, the more precise we are when crafting affirmations and thought forms, the more precise the result.

However, in crafting thought forms and affirmations we also must understand what we can and cannot influence. Because of the nature of Divine Law, there are some things beyond our ability to manipulate, such as another person’s free will. Each creates their own lives, their karma, their destiny. No one need be enslaved to the will or rules of another. That’s why we cannot make anyone do anything they don’t want to do.

Also, as I make clear in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, while we may do precise affirmations for something to come forth, if it is not true for us, it will not manifest. While there are many things which could come true for us if we simply imagined them and then followed through on opportunities to make it true, there are other things we are denied, regardless of our affirmations, prayers, intentions, and efforts.

However, it is equally true that our heart’s desires will be made manifest at some point in time. The nature of frequency (and all thoughts are sent out on several frequencies simultaneously) is such that there is often a delay in the manifestation, since matter is not easy to move, and all things involving the world are bound in time, as per Saturn’s function. That’s why there is usually a delay in how our affirmation manifests since time binds the manifestation of anything related to that affirmation until something appropriate to our evolutionary need can come forth in our lives. These things fall in the realm of Dharma, Big “K” Karma, and little “k” karma as discussed in Chapter 4 of Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend.

Some Basics of Thought Form Building

If we’re going to build clear thought forms that will be made manifest, we must first learn how to meditate in a certain way. This gives us a technique to be clear about what we want to affirm. This means standing aside from the chatter of the “monkey mind” and stilling the desire mind so we can get a clear signal from the deeper knowing of "the voice of the silence." When we learn to listen without thinking or wants, we can know that which is beyond the lower mind's ability to discover.

All affirmations come true to some degree if we hold them over time, and persist in strengthening the affirmation. The power of a Mantra (spoken or unspoken) multiplied by Time is what creates future manifestations. That’s why it’s so important to meditate to learn and know what is in our highest interests. We do not need to want anything. We merely need to ask what is in our best interests, welcome signs from Spirit showing us the way, and refuse to get confused about what to say “yes” to and what to say “no” to.

Meditation also helps us get clear about potential unintended consequences that our desire mind may be overlooking. As every cause inevitably has multiple possible effects, by learning to set aside ideas and desires and become receptive to the greater Knowing of our Higher Self, we can know whether to do something or not, as well as when and how. Meditation stills the conscious mind, allowing the superconscious field to work with our higher Knowing to understand what to do or not do.

The main problem of trying to do affirmations without setting aside personal desires is that the desire mind often ignores the law of unintended consequences, and so affirms things without care for that which is doesn’t anticipate. By meditating, we can affirm a thing with dispassion but intense focus, detached from the mind’s worries and impatience. By setting aside hope and fear, we can send a clear signal to the field of Spirit, where it will inevitably produce a consequence to us at some point in time.

An affirmation requires stating a certain thing in a certain way. A good affirmation requires precision, imagination, and a willingness to experiment with words and concepts until the affirmation is exactly the one you want to see made manifest.

As we build our thought forms, we will see them manifest if they are true for us. As we discipline our mind and speech (since we only want to say what we want to see made manifest!), our fears and extraneous considerations diminish, and we increasingly find ourselves in situations where our Higher Self can come forth. Over time, we find that what is made manifest in a conscious way, and even the time and speed of its manifestation, are relevant to our understanding of our “hero’s journey,” the Way we walk through time, space, and consciousness.

When I’m asking my Highest Self for an image of what I should be focusing on, I often prepare my mind with prayers, and then meditate on allowing the highest possible affirmation to come forth in meditation. After that I use my conscious mind to translate the meditative experience into a stream of thoughts that could take shape over time furthering that meditative intention.

I’ve found the less “thinking” the better as I shape the essence of the affirmation. I try to be clear, economical, simple, and precise about what I’m affirming, and in the past I’ve seen them made manifest in a variety of ways in short order, depending on my clarity, dedication, and truth of the affirmation.

I’ll close today by sharing an affirmation I’ve done off and on for many years. It has worked in many different ways over that time, and I have also been told that by others I’ve shared it with. It is a highly specific thought form where each word was chosen carefully. If you are moved to do so, enjoy its energy. And of course, please enjoy crafting an affirmation or two that will serve your highest interests in the coming months of radical transition.

An Affirmation

”I affirm the fact that I and all my loved ones are protected under Divine Grace, as we move through this process of change toward a greater life of freedom, safety, love, peace, abundance, health, and community.”

© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson - https://www.aquariuspapers.com
Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with persmission from Robert Wilkinson.