The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on October 26th, 2022 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
The phrase “to be blissed out” conjures up images of paisley and tie-dye—and perhaps, in some circles, a sense of getting high and disconnecting from reality. In other circles, associations with being “blissed out” may conjure up ecstatic visions, and perhaps a sense of cult and ritual.
In both cases, we might assume that the purpose of the associations is precisely to “dissociate” from the burdens of daily life. However, from the perspective of prayer as bliss, the larger purpose is a return to the simple, most basic core of lived experience. Through the lens of simplicity, prayer as bliss is an undertaking which involves the stripping away of any and every thing that is distracting, excessive, and unnecessarily stimulating.
Layer by layer, we can release hindrances to bliss, such as internal worry, external gossip, and overactivity. Slowly, through glimpses of stillness and silence, prayer as bliss refracts the luminous wonder of all that is ordinary. This bug. That ray of sunlight. The smile of a loved one. The sweetness of caring and compassion.
Whether expressed as a sigh of gratitude or the deep weightlessness of rest, prayer as bliss draws us deeper into relationship with reality, rather than drawing us away through dissociation. To practice prayer as bliss is to tune into silence, stillness and simplicity, allowing oneself to be both carried away and lured into the depth of each magnificent, ordinary moment.
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