The Universe Is Calling by Eric Butterworth

My metaphysics class spent several months hashing over Butterworth's ideas of experiencing oneness with the Universe. Ostensibly this is a book about prayer, but the approach is very different from what most people practice. It is based on the Unity concept that we are one with each other, with the Universe, and with everything in the Universe. It teaches that prayer is not something you do TO God or FOR God. It is an acknowledgement of ever-present divine activity and your part in its creative process.

Setting a Trap for God; The Aramaic Prayer of Jesus by Rocco A. Errico

Errico goes back to the original Aramaic words that Jesus spoke in what we commonly refer to as "The Lord's Prayer" and he pays special attention to cultural setting and the nuances of the Aramaic language. What he comes up with is not so different from what we already know, but he emphasizes the sense of intimacy with God that Jesus encouraged. He also objects to "lead us not into temptation," as something a loving father would not do. He prefers "leave us not in temptation." Errico's book is sensible and has little to disagree with. However, those of us who see the Universe as God (there's nothing that's not God) still wonder whom you are addressing when you pray. Even though this is a Unity book, it seems to emphasize human separation from God -- as does all prayer. Personally, I think meditation and "intention" is the way to go.

The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart

I loved McTaggart's book called The Field, but was a little disappointed in this one. It is about attempts of science to prove that prayer or thoughtful "intention" can have long distance effects. There are a lot of past experiments that prove it to be true and several that prove nothing. With this book McTaggart and her colleagues have set up an internet site (www.theintentionexperiment.com) which allows anyone who has read the book to participate online in experiments aimed at proving the effectiveness of human "intention" on living things. If this were a subject close to my heart, I would join in; but it seems to me that results thus far are scant and unpredictable and I doubt we'll be able the use this method to achieve world peace anytime soon. Nevertheless, McTaggart's writing is wonderfully clear and her facts thoroughly documented. If you should doubt any of the research she's writing about, you can check her endnotes and run down the source yourself.