Fast and Pray

In the waiting room at the dentist's office today I pondered the new meaning that had come to me during the night of the invitation to "Fast and Pray." Fast usually means to deprive oneself of something, such as food. The night-revealed meaning was a fasting of the mind, to let go of thoughts, to allow thoughts to go their way without attachment. The mind becomes calm, quiet, empty of all but the radiance of now. Pray means to open in communion with all existing in this moment now, to open in reverence extending outward in all directions from our core. I was sitting there, fasting and praying, quiet mind and sphere of radiant reverent energy when I was called and led back into the inner chambers of the office. I have never had such a serenely pleasant experience at the dentist. It wasn't that I deliberately performed that exercise in anticipation of sitting in the dental chair. I was just continuing the pre-dawn action and understanding of Fast and Pray.