Adopting Prayers from Various Traditions

UPL encourages the use of prayers from different religions as a form of attunement to the divine light, offering a means of affirming core beliefs, expressing gratitude, listening inwardly for guidance, and fostering a profound sense of connection with the divine. Where a prayer addresses God as a person, UPL reads those words as poetry: what is addressed is the light. With an understanding that spiritual essence transcends religious boundaries, UPL views these prayers as diverse expressions of a unified spiritual aspiration towards enlightenment and unity.

Three prayers show the range. Jesus taught his followers to pray: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:9-13, World English Bible). A prayer of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad asks to be led from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. Muslims open each unit of their daily prayer with al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Qur’an, which praises God as the Lord of Mercy and asks to be guided to the straight path.

Each of these speaks to God as to someone. A follower of UPL may pray them as they stand, hearing in the first a wish to live rightly and to forgive, in the second a turning towards the light, and in the third a request to be kept on the path.