Recap: In the last segment you learned this:

What I have asked for, for my brother, is not what I would have. Thus have I made of him my enemy.

You also learned that the brother whom you perceived as enemy (in order to project your guilt onto him, and thus not bear it yourself), has actually come to bless you. And as you accept his blessing, you feel how your heart is lifted and your fear is released. And you remember that he is a Son of God, along with you; a messenger of Christ, along with you.

1. Until this second level begins, one cannot share in prayer. For until that point, each one must ask for different things. But once the need to hold the other as an enemy has been questioned, and the reason for doing so has been recognized even if only for an instant, it then then becomes possible to join together in prayer.

2. You see, enemies do not share a goal. The idea that they are “at odds” with each other is what keeps their enmity intact. Their separate wishes are their arsenals, the weapons they use to keep themselves separate and in hate.

Thus the key to rising still further in prayer lies in this simple thought, this change of mind:

"We go together you and I."

3. Now it is possible to reach up in prayer, and therefore to reach higher yourself. This step quickens the ascent, but there are still many lessons to learn. Though the way is now open for joining together in prayer and accessing the “power of two,” and hope is now justified – it is likely at first that what is asked for even by those who join in prayer is not the goal that prayer should really seek.

Thus, even together you may ask for things, and thus set up but an illusion of a goal you share. Remember the goal of prayer is to join in thankfulness and love with God, not for the asking for things which are idols apart from God. In doing this, you are asking for effects without the cause, and this you cannot have. For no one can receive effects alone, asking a cause from which they do not come, to offer them to him. In essence, then, it is the ego to whom you go to ask for things, and not to God. Do not ask God for things.

4. Thus, even the joining together with a brother in prayer, then, is not enough, if those who pray together do not ask, before all else, what is the Will of God. From this Cause only (from this Source only, from God only) can the answer come in which all specifics are satisfied, in which all separate wishes are unified in one.

Prayer for specifics always asks to have the past repeated in some way. What was enjoyed before, or seemed to be, what was another’s and he seemed to love – all these are but illusions from the past. How would we know what specifics to pray for, if we did not go to our experiences of things and events from the past to know what specifics we would like to have manifest for us here and now? Would you not prefer instead to have what God offers?

The aim of prayer is to release the present from its chains of past illusions, to let it be a freely chosen remedy from every choice that stood for a mistake before. You see, what prayer can offer now so far exceeds all that you asked before or experienced before, that it is pitiful to be content with less than the Father will provide for you now.

5. Brother, every time you pray, you are choosing a newborn chance to experience the Love and the Glory of God. And would you stifle and imprison it in ancient prisons, in ancient thoughts and limitations of prior experiences, when the chance has come to free yourself from all of them at once?

Do not restrict your asking. Prayer can bring the peace of God. What time-bound thing can give you more than this, in just the little space you provide, that will last only until it crumbles into dust? Do not ask in prayer for that which you think will make you happy, even for a little while. Welcome instead the peace that surpasses all worldly understanding. Welcome the awareness and acceptance of all the gifts God gave to you in your creation. Welcome His Will for His Son. You will receive It – because It is already yours!  Amen