DWQA QuestionsCategory: PrayerAnother question: “If a person can work in a very dedicated way, could one dedicate an action, ‘each stitch I make when I sew, or knit, each keystroke when I type on my computer, every stroke for splitting wood, etc.,’ as a code for a group of prayers?”
Nicola Staff asked 4 years ago
As odd as this may seem to some, this is an acceptable strategy. There is nothing in our instructions to say there is an upper limit to the number of times, the circumstances, and the way in which coding can be created and implemented, so you indeed can have it represented by something that is symbolic and non-language as long as there is a very clear awareness that is what one is doing. In other words, if you have a code word for a prayer and choose to launch the prayer with the code word, you must have clearly in your mind you are thinking or saying the word with the intention for the prayer to be launched for which that is the code word that applies to the task. If you are doing other things in your life and have used a common word from language as your code word and that word comes up in something you read or you happen to say the word as part of a conversation, that will not launch the prayer request because you are not focused on doing so with that particular work. So the same would be true of a series of mechanical actions that may be done over, and over, and over, and in a way, create many, many repetitions and thereby launchings with less effort than totally occupying one’s awareness and having to mouth the word over, and over, and over. But the same requirement would apply, that if you are knitting with the intention of every stitch be to launch a prayer request, you must keep your mind focused on what you are doing and hold the intention all the way along. And so few people would find it comfortable to maintain an intention for that length of time as most people sewing, or knitting, or doing other some mechanical task, will find their mind wandering or, in fact, will only do it when they are listening to something or watching something intermittently and focusing on the dialogue but looking up occasionally—but in other words, having their mind go to other tasks. Once that redirection of attention occurs, the link between the mechanical action and the launching of the prayer request will stop, so this is not likely to be the best strategy to get the most accomplished. You take the risk of losing the effort along the way and then are left thinking falsely you are accomplishing something, but the end result might be quite diminished, and you will be unaware of it.