Matthew·Prayer and stillness·11 of 34
The shut door
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:6 · King James Version
Prayer is not a performance for other minds. It is a meeting in the secret place.
An inner reading
The closet is an inner room before it is a literal one. The door that must shut is the door of display: prayer offered to be overheard, spirituality arranged for an audience, even the audience of one’s own self-image. Behind that door the Father is not far. The Father is in secret — in the unobserved center.
“Reward thee openly” does not mean a public prize. What is settled in secret shows itself in the open life: a changed tone, a freed reaction, a mind no longer begging the crowd for its reality. Metaphysically, the secret place is where you stop negotiating with appearances and speak with Cause.