Looking at the scattered smoke of the incense...

Continue from my last post The background of the significant experience of the birds

Oct. 1, 2001 (Monday) was the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

When we arrived home (after closing up the restaurant), it was past 11 pm.  We put some mooncakes and fruit on the table.  I lit some sticks of incense.  We normally let the incense burn for quite a while or finish burning before we ate the mooncakes.  My husband said he was full and did not want any mooncake.  He went upstairs to sleep because he felt very tired.

After my husband went upstairs, I stood by the table watching the scattered smoke of the incense.  It was a day to appreciate the full moon, and we had opened the windows when we were home.  The table was by the windows.  The smoke of the incense was blown all over the room by the wind.  As I was looking at the scattered smoke, the idea 'pray now' came.  As much as the human I was surprised** at the prompting, I followed.

(**I had already prayed because we customarily prayed after we lit the incense.)

I bowed my head and totally immersed in praying, "I bow before Thee.  I am praying for the people in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, in Africa, and in New York.  Please replace hate with love; please let us love one another; please ........."  At one point, something made me open my eyes.  To my great surprise, the smoke of the incense was shooting straight up, very straight and not a bit wavy!  At the same time, I could feel the wind from the windows.  I lowered my head again, closed my eyes, and continued praying for world peace and for the people who had lost their loved ones in the 9/11 Terrorists Attacks.  When I finished, the incense was almost burnt to the bottom, but the little smoke it had still shot straight up.  Then the smoke was completely gone.

The night was not over.  There was yet another experience that made me feel 'I really, really want some answers to my experiences'.

                                            ~           to be cont'd           ~

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P.S.

Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the lunar calendar.  This year we will celebrate the festival on Sept. 27 (Sunday).

On Chinese New Year's Day and other traditional festivals, most Chinese prayed for themselves and their loved ones.  This was what I did after I lit the incense on that Mid-Autumn Festival.  When I looked back at what had happened, I saw a shift in my prayers before and after the prompting.  It was not that I thought of what to pray when I was prompted to pray.  The shift was automatic.

 
Our thought and prayer matter in the reality that we create.  In the greater sense of Truth, we are not separated from one another - we are one.  When we pray for others (or the world), we are in fact praying for ourselves.

Next post I had brought home the wrong book