Alexandra: Hello, dear Universe.

The Universe: Hello there, dear Alexandra! Tell us, why did you pick this title for our chat today? Isn’t it the title of a 1960s British folk song?

A: It is! And a beautiful song, too. This title came out of my mind as a random thought that popped up. Then I realized how appropriate it is, given that today is December 29 and we’re about 51 hours away from crossing into the year 2025.

U: Ah yes, the human way of thinking you control time by measuring it into portions.

A: Yes, the logical left hemisphere of our brain enjoys that. Needs it, in fact, in order to, as you say, feel in control, and to get organised.

U: There’s something to be said for logical thinking. Cause and effect, after all, are logical. We find that the mystic nature of life gets overlooked, however. Logic alone cannot produce a complete picture.

A: I know. Many of us are awakening, though.

U: Indeed. We admire and appreciate that fact.

A: Thank you. Going back to our human perception of time passing, I’ve had a remarkable year this year.

U: Indeed? How so?

A: I’ve grown, a lot. On reflection, my intuition about the importance of a new determination I started making just before Easter has proven to be accurate.

U: What is the determination?

A: “I am determined to see Buddha nature in me and in everyone.” I had a strong feeling that if I worked on that through my prayers and my chanting, everything else would start to fall into place.

U: And? Did it?

A: Yes! I wanted an air purifier and I was given one that costs a whopping $5,000 to buy on Amazon. I wanted to start walking regularly again, and you, dear Universe, provided me with an accountability partner to help me. And she has turned from an acquaintance into a good friend.

Then I added another prayer/determination: “I determine to treat myself as a precious treasure of the Law, for kosen-rufu*. And: “I determine to treat everyone as a precious treasure of the Law, for kosen-rufu*.”

U: And what came of that?

A: I allowed myself to start seeing an amazingly gifted registered massage therapist on an increasingly regular basis. She’s helping me shift old negative energy knots from my body. And a good friend introduced me to an energy healer with whom I took three events that definitely also shifted my energy. And which started to open me up to the real power of imagination.

U: Planet Earth had a sage in the 20th century, called by humans a genius, who said: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

A: Yes! Albert Einstein. He also said:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

I’ve always had an incredibly active imagination. Now I’m learning more and more to direct it positively, instead of catastrophising, or being absent-minded and letting my mind run on a default negative setting, as though that doesn’t matter, when it does!

U: Indeed. It seems your prayers have served you well.

A: There’s one more! “I am determined to embrace difficulty as an opportunity to challenge myself and grow and win, for kosen-rufu*.” This prayer is helping me move my mind and body from “No I can’t,” to “Yes I can.”

U: We are pleased to observe your progress, dear Alexandra.

A: Thank you. So am I! I’ve long known that the Gohonzon, the scroll to which I chant and pray, has incredible power. The difference now is that I believe it, for me, not just for other people. And I can pray the way I did back in 1983, at the very beginning of my journey of practising Buddhism – with expectation.

Everyone deserves to be happy, and that includes me. It took a long time to get here, but I know that now.

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*Kosen-rufu is the movement to create happiness and peace for oneself and others, based on Buddhist practice and the applied philosophy of the sanctity of life.

Photo by Jeanne Rouillard on Unsplash