American Unitarian Conference Forum

I came across this info regarding a forgotten spiritual explorer...I am not personally familiar with him...but this quote is interesting:
______________________________________________________
http://www.spiritualteachers.org/joseph_sadony.htm

Sadony also address prayer, which he refers to as the very life of intuition:

"Those who pray that the flame that envelops their entire house may be extinguished at once have been unbalanced by the shock of being caught unprepared. Prayer will not controvert common sense. Even God cannot help here, for God's law was obeyed when the house caught fire. Why was it not prevented by the one in charge?

Prayer is a reminder to "tune in," so that you will take care of the matches and gasoline before they become instruments of a big blaze. Prayer is a comforter. It is a hope restorer. But if a man thinks that God is going to listen to him when he pleads on his knees in prayer to save his life at eighty, after having forgotten Him for seventy-nine years, he is entirely ignorant of the nature and function and purpose of prayer. But if one has been sincere and fair in all his dealings, he has been praying all the time, and his prayers are answered before he knows it. And he is pleased. And so is God."

Nice quote. Here's a similar take from Unitarian minister John Applebee, in the early 1900's

"Prayer is not mere petition; not the mere asking for things, though it has been reduced to that low estate. We do not ask that rain shall be sent or withheld. We do not ask that the beautiful order of nature shall be set aside for our personal gratification. We are quite content to leave the universe in the care of God, assured that he knows best. It is well that man cannot by his prayers change the order of nature. If he could, hopeless chaos would result. All this is not prayer. Prayer is oneness of the soul of man with the spirit of God. It is one form of that very love to God which is the essence of the religious life. It is divine communion, which merges naturally, and of spiritual necessity, into gratitude. It gives strength and courage, patience and peace. This has been the witness of all men of supreme religious genius."

Yes, both are very much in the same spirit.....I am not familiar with either gentleman.

Here is an intriguing story...

http://www.thegreatlakespilot.com/storie...sense.html