Because I believe in time as a flexible dimension, and because I believe in prayer, I believe in backwards prayer. I believe we can ease the suffering of those who came before us. Today was an odd day. Collecting materials and papers for taxes brought me into contact with other documents and cards and letters, some of which were hard to revisit. But I got a lot done, and at the end of the afternoon, went to the hill. As taught a couple years back, I practiced the fundamentals of tenshingoso, a Shintaido form that one might experience as wordless prayer. Even the stretches at the beginning felt exquisitely beautiful.

Late this evening, memories came up of kids I babysat when I was a kid, kids who were being hurt, and I didn't know how to fix things.

It may just be a self-comforting delusion to pray backwards, or maybe not. Either way, it can't hurt to pray now for those kids back then, can it?

We do feel for people, and sometimes I think when we let our hearts feel, there is some sympathy, some healing (some would say divine light) that's shared from person to person, and surfaces across time to give support in a moment long past, or perhaps in a moment some day to come.