THIS MOMENT
(A message inspired by the September 11, 2001 tragedy)

Just think-- 
There are billions of people living life at this moment. 
Just think-- 
A hundred years from this moment, they all will be dead and forgotten. 
Just think-- 
For some of us at this moment, this is the last moment of our lives. "What is most important, how long I live this moment or how well I live this moment, if I know that this is the last moment of my life?" Life should be lived with peace, great joy, and happiness--with thankfulness, gratitude and appreciation, because who knows, this may be the last moment of your life. 
Just think-- 
If you knew that this was the last moment of your life, would not your last moment be a moment of prayer? 
Just think-- 
At this moment, you ordinarily use prayer for complaining, demanding or asking for something. You have desires and think that God can help you fulfill them here on earth or in his kingdom. You go to the door of God to ask for something--as a beggar, not as a child of God. 
Just think-- 
At this moment, you may be begging God for another life, to be resurrected from the dead, to go to heaven--when you have failed to live the life that God has already given you. 
Just think-- 
At this moment, you have failed to know who you are, why you are here in this life and why you go on existing. 
Just think-- 
You are begging "God to destroy those who oppress their fellow men and to turn the earth into a paradise" for only you to live in, and you are begging for power to lead someone or yourself to commit suicide in order to lash out, maim and kill others. 
Just think-- 
At this moment when you pray, you are asking and begging God for fame, fortune, prestige, etc. 
Just think-- 
If you pray, you will pray for the wrong reasons--because you are wrong. So the question is not what is right to ask or beg God for, or what is the right thing to do. The question is how to be right in your "being". Your "being" is the witness in the center of your inner-self, the inner-world within you. 
Just think-- 
If your "being" is right, then whatsoever you do or say will be right. If your "being" is not right, not centered in God, then whatsoever you do or say in this life is going to be wrong. 
Just think-- 
Everything you do or say in this life depends not on what you do or say; it depends on "who you are". If you are sick, your prayer is going to be sick. If a thief goes to pray, his prayer is going to be wrong because how, out of a heart that has been deceiving, stealing, lying, and harming everybody, can his prayer be right? 
So, in this moment, the basic thing is not what to do--the basic thing in life is who you are as you are within your "being"--"the witness". 
Just think-- 
You can "be" without doing anything, but you cannot "be" without the "being". Doing is secondary. One can remain inactive, not doing anything. 
Just think-- 
This distinction has to be kept as clear as possible because everything else depends upon it. Whenever persons like Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, etc. are born into this life, man (male or female) misunderstands them. This misunderstanding is because man misses the distinction. Jesus and others are talking about the "being"--the "witness", but man listens and interprets the message as if they are talking about the "doing". 
Just think-- 
Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammed, etc. are talking about your "being"--the "witness", your inner world, the spirit within you and how to transform your "being" by being a witness and not a doer. Religion--churches, temples, mosques, organized religion; teachers and priests, etc. are talking about your "doing". They are talking about what to do about your morality, sexuality, and how to be saved or resurrected from the dead. They are talking about your outer world--your fame, fortune, prestige, and donations (the foundation of all organized religion). 
Just think-- 
Your prayer is just a means and prayer itself is not significant. You are praying to get something. That something is significant, not prayer. 
Just think-- 
Prayer itself is so beautiful; you feel so happy that you simply go and give thanks to God that He has given you life--that He has allowed you to be, to breathe, to see, to listen and that God has allowed you to be aware. 
Just think-- 
Life is a gift from God. You have not earned it or deserved it. Do you deserve anything? Can you find in any way that you deserve this gift, this life? If you were not here in this life, could you say that some injustice has been done to you? 
Just think-- 
When you understand that the gift of life is out of Divine Love, God's overflowing love, a quality is born in you--the quality of being grateful. Prayer is the feeling of gratitude. 
Just think-- 
The real must come out of your "being". First you must change and be transformed; only then whatsoever you do will be good. Let things come out of your "being". Don't manage and control your actions. Transform your "being". The real thing is not what you do; the real thing is what you are. 
Just think-- 
If the last moment of your life be a real moment of prayer, your prayer will come out of your 'being"--out of "the witness". 
It will be what YOU are: 
"LOVE, THANKFULNESS, GRATITUDE, and APPRECIATION". 
and who knows, THIS MAY BE THE LAST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE. 
Copyright 2002 - Charles D. Miller