To MyDivinity beyond myself, who lives in perfect wholeness (“Our Father which art in heaven”)
I am ever mindful of my I AM God nature in all things and theirs in me (“Hallowed be thy name”)
I will create heaven on earth by bringing this divine awareness to every moment of my life (“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”)
I shall live this day step-by-step trusting the wisdom I have, opening myself to receive the wisdom I need (“Give us this day our daily bread”)
I release myself from all limiting judgments, as I release all others of my limiting judgments of them because their suffering is my suffering (“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”)
May I choose my highest expression and become aware of lesser goods and egotism (“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”)
For total manifestation of MyDivinity is my birthright; I live through a power beyond the limitations of myself and time. So be it. “(For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”)

Commentary and Devotional Exposition: An Intention to Live in the Power of Your Divine Nature; Matthew 6:9-13, KJV

This is an intention crafted to align you with the power of your divine nature–wholeness (holiness)–whether you are religious or not. It is a reinterpretation of the Lord’s Prayer through an understanding of self-divinity and nonduality. Jesus suggested this prayer as a guide to alignment with divine will: “After this manner therefore pray ye,” v. 9a. This prayer can be crafted according to your own understanding or belief system. My usage of the words God and divinity are symbolic and open: you can interpret them literally, spiritually, or atheistically.

To MyDivinity beyond myself (“Our Father”): God is not something separate from us: our nature is godliness and divine nature is undivided. The most devastating religious trauma is an image of divinity as something separate from you. This image disempowers people to look for the answers outside of themselves, fearfully submitting to the fascistic forces of authorities using an inverted notion of God to prop up their wounded selves. When we see God as not-us, we become alienated from our psychology and nature itself. Reality becomes fragmented and divided against itself in our thinking, and the societies we create reflect this divine identity crisis.

God the Father is an image that has traditionally represented an entirely other, transcendent deity. And there is a sense in which divinity is transcendent: it includes everything that exists beyond your infinitesimal individuated egoself. However, we must not confuse the divinity that exists beyond us as separate from our nature. That is the idolatry of exclusivist monotheistic religion, which inevitably crusades against the paradoxical pluriform unity of nature (diversity in truth). To preserve the transcendent sense of divinity as a kind of higher power we relate to that is also immanent within us, I translate it as existing outside the self and as the self simultaneously: MyDivinity beyond myself. As Jesus boldly proclaimed about human nature, even the divine outside of me really is me: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Who lives in perfect wholeness (“Which art in heaven”): Heaven, or nonduality, represents the substratum of reality composed of pure numinosity (consciousness, divinity) that manifests as and includes the material realm of polarity that we are typically aware of. In the nondual realm, perceived, perceiver, and perception are all one: there is no separation. Since nature is nondual at the most fundamental dimensional perspective, we can say that our nature is wholeness, even though we experience fragmentation as a result of separation myopia. Since trauma is related to separation, all things that make conscious contact with the nondual realm align with wholeness and healing from trauma.

Trauma is fragmentation within an egoself organism (intrapsychic) or between the parts of the ecosystem Self Organism that is the universe (relational). When we experientially contact the interconnectedness of heaven, we gain insight on how to live in integrity (wholeness) between the internal parts of ourselves and the parts of ourselves that we do not typically consider ourselves (other people, nature). Grace is the result. This does not mean that spiritual practice or so-called enlightenment automatically leads to the healing of all psychological trauma, illness, or internalized racism (although it may, at times). Embodying the wholeness in this realm that ultimately already is is a never-ending process of becoming and awareness of remembrance, not perfection. It requires continued application in all dimensions of our experience, as long as we live. We have to learn how to bring the nondual we experience in peak contact-states into embodiment in this realm of polarity. Moreover, human activities like education, relationships, and finances still require engagement through traditional means. The rules of reality don’t stop applying once we gain nondual awareness, but the way we relate to reality and accomplish by it does.

“Which art in heaven”: We are addressing our intention to our divine nature “which is in heaven” because our divine nature is concealed from us in this realm of polarity, but is revealed into our experience when we contact the nondual realm through our intuition, which is what we use to set effective prayers/intentions. (Effective intentions are in flow and alignment with the greater purpose and harmony of the whole, not just your arbitrary whims and fantasies, contra most conceptions of “law of attraction” and faith-prosperity teachings.) Moreover, through this prayer/intention, we are aligning our mentality with the wholeness of our higher nature. We need to remind ourselves that our nature is whole constantly because we spend most of our awareness in separation-based consciousness of polarity (the material world). And it is the very nature of polarity to dissociate from nondual awareness through forgetting. So, if we want to apply the power of wholeness, we need to remember who we really are. We are not the thoughts, personality, or separate egoself we have tacitly assumed ourselves to be. Through spiritual practice, we learn to transcend these aspects of our identity and connect with our pure awareness, which extends to infinity. We experience that our body is as a cell in the larger body of existence, our mind as a thought in the larger mind. This broadening allows us to more fully inhabit our selves in this dimension and synchronously live our purpose as part of the greater whole.

(“Hallowed be”): To hallow means to glorify, which can be understood as a prioritization of attention and care. By being mindful, conscious, and aware of divinity in the mundane and profound matters of life, I increase its impact and my ability to access its (my) potency.

(“thy name”) / I am ever mindful of my I AM God nature in all things and theirs in me”: The Hebrew divine name יהוה means “I am that I am.” Applied to self-divinity, this translates to an experiential understanding of divine identity: I understand that the divine name I AM God is my own. Moreover, since the divinity expressed in all things is also in me, I recognize that I have access to powers and capacities I have not yet experienced or which are beyond me, as and when I need them (faith). I also practice the knowledge that I am not the center of the universe. My divine nature means participation in and relational connection to the divine nature of all things, and my self-actualization is bound up with the betterment of all things. Awareness of divine wholeness is communal. It is also integrative of all aspects of our lives, externally and internally, for divinity saturates the totality.

I will create heaven on earth by bringing this divine awareness to every moment of my life (“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”): The Kingdom of Heaven is a metaphor for the manifestation of divine nature in everyday life. Divine will is done on earth as it is in heaven when nonduality is manifest in and through this realm of polarity. We live in and advance the kingdom of heaven by applying mindfulness of divinity to the nitty-gritty of our lives. What would happen to the way you treat your partner, care for your body, or deal with your internal conflicts if you brought awareness of an all-loving, all-knowing creative intelligence (your divine nature) into the situation in the moment? This is the process of Divine Mindfulness, which is taught in the Divinity Template Program.

I shall live this day step-by-step trusting the wisdom I have, opening myself to receive the wisdom I need (“Give us this day our daily bread”): Jesus spoke of eating food in the sense of taking in spiritual nourishment: “But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about’” (John 4:32). The daily bread Jesus mentions in the Lord’s Prayer is probably a reference to the manna God gave the Israelites during their Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land: “The people are to go out each day and gather enough [manna] for that day…. Each morning everyone gathered as much [manna] as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away” (Exodus 16:4, 21). The manna was only enough divine provision for each day; gathering had to be done daily and could not be skipped or stocked up. The gathering of manna symbolizes spiritual practice and its ongoing nature. Manna (or bread) symbolizes spiritual knowledge that comes from divinity (which is not merely intellectual):“[God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna… to teach you that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

We have access to all the knowledge available to consciousness, which happens to be all knowledge, through our relational connection. Thus, divinity is omniscient (all-knowing). But as long as we are alive in this realm, we can never fully attain omniscience. That is beyond the limits of the human bodymind. However, we have access to omniscience (divine knowledge) as we need it for our divine purpose, as we contact it through intuition and spiritual practice (faith). The path of faith is using the wisdom-manna we have, instead of hoarding it up or amassing knowledge without acting on it. As we trust the knowledge we have through applying it, even though we do not know the big picture, we open ourselves up to receive more wisdom. Moreover, we must open ourselves up to receive the wisdom we lack that we presently need to accomplish our purpose through positioning ourselves to receive grace through spiritual practice, surrender, healing of trauma, education, and other means.

The manna was only available to the Israelites during their spiritual journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. Once they entered the Promised Land, they no longer needed spiritual knowledge for a quest that was now complete: “And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Joshua 5:12, ESV). We never attain total perfection so long as we journey in this lifetime; heaven will not be completely manifested on earth. Spiritual growth will always be a work in progress. Receiving our daily bread is how we sustain ourselves until we reunite with the pure consciousness from which we originated (how or even if this reunion happens after death remains hypothetical for me).

I release myself from all limiting judgments, as I release all others of my limiting judgments of them because their suffering is my suffering (“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”): I chose the phrase limiting judgments to translate the idea of debt, which connotes a kind of slavery. Other words could be chosen for this concept, as limiting judgments doesn’t encapsulate everything I wish to communicate. Anything that holds us back from wholeness is to be worked through and released. But limiting judgments approximates the ideas of harmful cognition and forgiveness that Jesus communicates. We take improper actions because of our harmful or inaccurate judgments and belief systems about ourselves, reality, and others.

Moreover, we are to release other people of our limiting judgments of them and our grudges against them. We are all connected; the harm we intend towards others rebounds to us. We can no longer afford to view ourselves as isolated individuals fending for ourselves in this globalized world; we are in the muck and the mess together. Moreover, I am the one who suffers from harboring negative feelings and judgments about others, because my negativity is my own psychological suffering. All limiting judgments of self and others hold us back from accessing our divine wholeness. These judgments include the very subtle ways in which we cling to our illusory identity constructs and assert them without consideration for the whole (egotism). Working out our limiting judgments is an ongoing, deepening practice of healing and deconstruction.

May I choose my highest expression and become aware of lesser goods (“And lead us not into temptation”): I view temptation as choosing lesser goods (or outright harms) instead of our highest expression of divinity in any given situation. Choosing our highest expression requires us to become aware of the ways in which we compromise and choose lesser goods, which is often at the level of unconscious patterns, thoughts, and emotions. It is easier to settle for the safety and comfortability of lesser goods or the known than face the anxiety and risk of faith. Faith entails the potential for rejection, for you are putting yourself and your gift out to the world. But faith is not about being accepted by others; it is about accepting yourself. It is a far deeper rejection to not be able to accept yourself because you have shrunk back from trying than to try and find your aspirations didn’t pan out (at least, not in the way you had expected them to).

You will never be able to accept yourself if you are not living your purpose. There will always be a nagging sense of unease when you choose lesser goods, even though this may appear as success in the eyes of others. In fact, it may be more likely that people reject you if you risk living out your purpose, for this will expose their complacency and conformity. It is easy to follow the rules and achieve success according to the formulas of society; it is harder to have to discover them for yourself. Whatever path you take in life, conventional or not, if you are living your highest expression you will have to take risks, face your fears of rejection, and not give in to the temptation to choose an easier path. This is the only path to true fulfillment and self-actualization; at least that I am aware of.

May I become aware of egotism (“but deliver us from evil”): Egotism refers to the ways in which we alienate and fragment by viewing ourselves and nature as separate. Separation-identification is narcissistic because when we do not see our connection, we do not grasp wholeness. We are compelled to fill a gaping “God-sized hole” in our psyche. We puff up our wounded, lacking selves by clinging to false identifications and making ourselves bigger and better than. We look for ways to establish our sense of identity around achievements and personality, which are a constantly moving target. We cannot fully love our neighbor or ourselves because we do not know who we are. In this state, our conception of self and nature is the brokenness of the illusion, not the wholeness of reality.

It is important to establish a sense of ego (identity) but not in an egotistical sense. A healthy sense of self involves evolving our personality, developing healthy boundaries, and establishing balanced independence and power. But egotism involves trying to establish our sense of self based on what we are not, and on compensating for our wounding. A healthy ego reflects wholeness; egotism reflects fragmentation. As we become increasingly divinity awakened, we are better able to discern the difference; we are strengthened both in our sense of individual identity and our sense of oneness. And part of awakening to divinity is becoming conscious of the ways in which do not reflect it; the ways in which our doings depend on a false sense of self (egotism).

For total manifestation of MyDivinity is my birthright; I live through a power beyond the limitations of myself and time. So be it. “(For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”): This is the closing line to the intention that has been just been set. With an understanding of self-divinity, the “thine” is also “mine.” Our birthright and the birthright of all existence is the unveiling and enactment of our divinity. Mindfulness of nondual divinity–the focus of this intention–leads to its embodiment, or incarnation, in the material world. We are able to accomplish this impossible task because we know we are connected to a realm beyond all our conceptions of possibility, and beyond the capacities of the limited human organism: the entire universe, and consciousness itself. We can live boldly into the unknown, despite our limitations and weaknesses, no longer terrified out of living our purpose by them. We know that through divinity we are empowered by the timeless, eternal Beyond. Let it be so!

Do you feel psychologically traumatized by religion, isolated and disempowered by trauma, emotional and spiritual distress in your life? If you would like to talk with me for coaching support, schedule a free Inner Freedom Breakthrough Session. In this session, my intention is to help you feel deeply heard and supported, gain clarity, learn a few expert tips, and if it seems like I can support you further, see whether one of my Coaching Programs is a good fit for you. Join our Facebook Support Group: Healing from Religious Trauma, Discussing All Perspectives on Spirituality

I’m Andrew Jasko, Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Masters in Counseling in Progress, and I work to help you transform your trauma into the place of your power and connect to a healthy, authentic spirituality that works for you (whether that’s as a spiritual not religious, atheist, religious, transitioning, or agnostic identifying person). I was born into a minister’s family and became a preacher and missionary to India, after studying theology at Wheaton College and Princeton Seminary. As a Christian, my relationship with God was my passion, but unhealthy religious teachings caused me an anxiety disorder, sexual repression, and spiritual disillusionment. I felt alone, traumatized, and abandoned by the divine. After an agonizing crisis of faith, I rejected religion and spirituality. Then, I reintegrated a healthy spirituality through mystical, spiritual, and mindful practices. My passion is to help you to heal and connect with your authentic spiritual wholeness.

BOOK ME TO SPEAK: andrew@lifeafterdogma.org about healing religious trauma and psychology, spirituality and mental health, interpreting the Bible through a mystical, nondual lens, psychedelics, and other topics. I also provide consultations for therapists and ministers and speak on podcasts and video channels.

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