Before our enlightenment in truth, we prayed for things and persons; in other words, we sought to gain some personal end. With his great vision, Emerson wrote: “Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious.” Then this wise man defines prayer for us: “Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing His works good. . . . As soon as the man is one with God, he will not beg.” Prayer must not be understood as going to God for something because, as Emerson continues, “Prayer as a means to effect a private end is meanness and theft.”
Joel S. Goldsmith
The Infinite Way