1. We said that prayer is always for yourself, and this is so. 2Why, then, should you pray for others at all? 3And if you should, how should you do it? 4Praying for others, if rightly understood, becomes a means for lifting your projections of guilt from your brother, and enabling you to recognize it is not he who is hurting you. 5The poisonous thought that he is your enemy, your evil counterpart, your nemesis, must be relinquished before you can be saved from guilt. 6For this the means is prayer, of rising power and with ascending goals, until it reaches even up to God.
2. The earlier forms of prayer, at the bottom of the ladder, will not be free from envy and malice. 2They call for vengeance, not for love. 3Nor do they come from one who understands that they are calls for death, made out of fear by those who cherish guilt. 4They call upon a vengeful god, and it is he who seems to answer them. 5Hell cannot be asked for another, and then escaped by him who asks for it. 6Only those who are in hell can ask for hell. 7Those who have been forgiven, and who accepted their forgiveness, could never make a prayer like that.
3. At these levels, then, the learning goal must be to recognize that prayer will bring an answer only in the form in which the prayer was made. 2This is enough. 3From here it will be an easy step to the next levels. 4The next ascent begins with this:
5What I have asked for for my brother is not what I would have. 6Thus have I made of him my enemy.
7It is apparent that this step cannot be reached by anyone who sees no value or advantage to himself in setting others free. 8This may be long delayed, because it may seem to be dangerous instead of merciful. 9To the guilty there seems indeed to be a real advantage in having enemies, and this imagined gain must go, if enemies are to be set free.
4. Guilt must be given up, and not concealed. 2Nor can this be done without some pain, and a glimpse of the merciful nature of this step may for some time be followed by a deep retreat into fear. 3For fear’s defenses are fearful in themselves, and when they are recognized they bring their fear with them. 4Yet what advantage has an illusion of escape ever brought a prisoner? 5His real escape from guilt can lie only in the recognition that the guilt has gone. 6And how can this be recognized as long as he hides it in another, and does not see it as his own? 7Fear of escape makes it difficult to welcome freedom, and to make a jailer of an enemy seems to be safety. 8How, then, can he be released without an insane fear for yourself? 9You have made of him your salvation and your escape from guilt. 10Your investment in this escape is heavy, and your fear of letting it go is strong.
5. Stand still an instant, now, and think what you have done. 2Do not forget that it is you who did it, and who can therefore let it go. 3Hold out your hand. 4This enemy has come to bless you. 5Take his blessing, and feel how your heart is lifted and your fear released. 6Do not hold on to it, nor onto him. 7He is a Son of God, along with you. 8He is no jailer, but a messenger of Christ. 9Be this to him, that you may see him thus.
6. It is not easy to realize that prayers for things, for status, for human love, for external “gifts” of any kind, are always made to set up jailers and to hide from guilt. 2These things are used for goals that substitute for God, and therefore distort the purpose of prayer. 3The desire for them is the prayer. 4One need not ask explicitly. 5The goal of God is lost in the quest for lesser goals of any kind, and prayer becomes requests for enemies. 6The power of prayer can be quite clearly recognized even in this. 7No one who wants an enemy will fail to find one. 8But just as surely will he lose the only true goal that is given him. 9Think of the cost, and understand it well. 10All other goals are at the cost of God.