We got a very powerful metaphor from Awakin call with Maki Saionji Kawamura.

When you put flame underneath water, its temperature is going to rise. If it continues long enough, water reaches boiling point, the vapors start going up.

What if the flame is weak? It still boils the water, it simply takes longer. It is matter of time.

What if there a lot of water? What if the water is too little? I might take more or less time, and amount of vapors might be more or less. Water does reach boiling point if the flame continues to burn.

If you stop the flame before water reaches the boiling point, then water is going to cool down. Repeat it for a number of times, and it still doesn’t matter – water won’t reach boiling point.

The key here is to keep the flame going. It is very similar with praying – when you pray from the heart, it does create positive sparks in the world. When you pray together as a group, it is even more effective. It also makes it easier to pray for those in the group going through hard times. Community makes a big difference in soothing, healing each other – it is also makes it easier for individuals to heal rather than trying to do it in isolation.

We continue the flame of prayers till the entire world transforms in positive synergy – it is matter of time, if we continue praying.

What does this praying look like? What is a prayer? Maki-san enlightened us with a very powerful paradigm there – praying is having a sense of gratitude for blessings and positive energies in life, praying is having compassion for people suffering in the world, praying is being mindful of thoughts and practices throughout the day and striving to act based on voice from inside.



And what is the key to keep this flame going inside you?

Listening to your own voice from inside, that calling that ignites this flame …
 

Maki-san:

The environment changes at the same time as you change. And this can be created by commitment that comes from your own Divine spark or your own source. And if you are choosing the path from your inner source, and make a commitment to really work and try to create a living that aligns with the source, and then if you continue that … transformation occurs. There are many people who ask me question like, "Even though I pray for the peace the world, the peace never comes to me, or bad things happen my life. Why am I praying for the peace and bad things occurring in my life?" But it's about the patience and commitment that you would not give up praying. That is really the key.
 

 

Does everyone have this spark?
 

Maki-san:

If you can go deeper into yourself and find your own spark, the person who finds the spark in himself or herself, can believe that everyone has spark. I am lucky that I was able to find my spark. But since I found my spark, I really strongly believe and am 100% sure that everyone in the world has that spark. Because we are all humans, we are all from same human family. So until the time that the person can understand that they have spark, I want to really believe that, the person has spark and try to connect to that spark in each individual. People ask me, “If you understand what I am going through, you will understand that this person I am facing does not have spark." and they will explain to me how horrible the neighbors are or classmates are. I think it is about making commitment to decide that.. I made a commitment to see Divine spark on all the people around the world. Because I made that commitment.. Sometimes there are people who are really upsetting me or irritating me, but since I made commitment to connect to that spark, it's not about giving up. It's about trying to continuously find a way or path to connect to that spark. And if you don’t give up, there’s always a way. You Know, if this way doesn't go well may be the other way. It may take time, but if you keep doing to there is always a little bit of difference that can be created by walking a different path.  
 

 
Our moderator Pavi asked towards the end, “What can we do to serve your work in the world?”

Maki-san responded with a simple, gentle and yet profound call to action that can shake the world...
 

My mother always says that, "There are so many different ways to express. The expression, if it is coming from the source or Divine spark of yourself, that's really service to the humanity." So I really hope that each one of us can find our own source and our own divine spark and then express our life from that place.

At the same time if you have extra energy to do something or if you are not sure what to do, I really hope that people can pray for the peace of the world because this world really needs that power of the prayer right now. And there are so many people who need this positive energy.

And if we can continue our prayer until each individual can pray for himself or herself, until everybody can find their own wisdom within themselves. Until that time comes our work is really to do that on behalf of humanity. So I hope we can continue this prayer and may peace prevail on Earth.  
 

The full transcription and audio recording of conversation is available here on the Awakin call page for Maki Saionji Kawamura.