Chapter 181

On Impulses Toward Prayer

The manifestation of a prayer impulse is not the same for everyone. In your case: “A kind of pulse beats in the heart…there arises an impulse in the mind to pray…a tightness is felt in the throat…the mind quickly runs off, but the work continues in the heart.” Consider: what is essential here and what is incidental? That pulse in the heart and the tightness in the throat—these are nervous accidents, which in others manifest differently, for instance by trembling, and in others do not occur at all. It seems to me that those in whom it occurs may not give it leave to develop, and equally can amplify it to extremes, as for instance in Siberia someone fell into convulsions. All this is nervous and can and must be restrained. For “God’s presence expands and lifts our life,” producing no disorder or unevenness. Pay attention to this carefully. The essential thing here is: “The heart feels an impulse to prayer.” There should be warmth with this, and with warmth, the accompanying attention.

(Letter 256. Volume 2, pp. 91–92)