Do you pray?

Prayer can be confusing, cuz it looks like we're talking to God when actually we're talking to ourselves--in a good way. "God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." That prayer helps us to keep our priorities straight. I'm used to two kinds of prayer: the ones said before public functions and the ones that I say by myself. At public functions, the prayers usually remind us of our common enterprise of being reverent, decent people. By calling for blessings on various things or people, like our nation, government, ill or departed friends, people about to undertake ventures, etc., they help to instill sentiments of good will. Some prayers are therapeutic. A reethinkers group I belong to says the "resentment prayer" (with fundamentalist freethinkers grumbling in the background about "praying atheists"), in which we pray that good things will happen to the people we dislike. The prayer is therapeutic. If truth be known, I imagine not everyone saying it would be disappointed if their prayer wasn't answered, but it's a way of letting go of spiritually crippling resentments.

As for asking for the prayers I say by myself , I think Marcus Aurelius offered good advice when he suggested that instead of asking for stuff, try asking not to want it: "Try praying differently, and see what happens: Instead of asking for ‘a way to sleep with her,’ try asking for ‘a way to stop desiring to sleep with her.’ Instead of ‘a way to get rid of him,’ try asking for ‘a way to not crave his demise.’ Instead of ‘a way to not lose my child,’ try asking for ‘a way to lose my fear of it." (Meditations, 9.40) He also prayed: "Everything suits me that suits your designs, O my universe. Nothing is too early or too late for me that is in your own good time. All is fruit for me that your seasons bring, O Nature. All proceeds from you, all subsists in you, and to you all things return." (Meditations, 4.23) I pray "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." That way, my prayers are always answered, since God always gets His way.

 

There are times in life, be it in adversity, tragedy or desperation when we all consider our deity of choice.
Be it a Religion, Faith or Inner source of comfort,-

(= wise words from a Valkyrie) - for Strength Solace or inspiration.
It is; I believes,a matter of what works for the individual.
As one of Pagan faith I seek the guidance witch comes from within in my life, and as a mantra, remember the words that I heard from the Irish Comedian 'Dave Allen'.
When he finished his show/s would end with:-

 

welp..

 

Well that is Religion all over Orison.
Cruel and harsh and evil.
Dreadful crimes and cruelties (such as picture) have been done in the name of whoever religion a person has been brain washed into.

Heaven help that poor boy.
But then.
That ain't gonna happen now.
Is it?

 

Iman of peace Mohamad Tawhidi is often threatened for speaking out against such horrible practices.

sadly that is a growing practice with islamic fundamentalist, theyre out their fucking minds.

 

I have to agree with you Orison.
The Islamic fundamentalist lot certainly do give religion a bad name.
If there is a hell.
I hope they rot in it!

 

Sometimes. More so when i'm overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude. Whether a god is hearing me or not isn't important. I guess its just my way of releasing that feeling of gratitude out into the universe.

 

I was with a friend earlier today headed to lunch when he got a call from a woman asking him to pray for her sick cat and to ask a lady friend to do the same. He expressed reluctance to do the latter because said lady friend had a son in critical condition from a motorcycle accident and had enough on her mind without being asked to pray for somebody else's cat. The incident reminded me of an old SNL skit where Sally Fields was playing an evangelical lady praying that Jesus would keep her salt from coagulating in the shaker, whereupon Jesus materialized and essentially said "Give me a break!" and then, seeing how upset she was at that response, erased her memory of the incident and disappeared. I'm often taken aback by incidents like the one this morning, because they make me realize how many people in the twenty-first century are operating on a model of reality that strike me as wildly irrational, primitive or medieval. Maybe such beliefs are harmless, but I can see potential damage to critical thought in what I regard is superstition. If my friend doesn't pray for the cat or get his lady friend to, is he or are they responsible if God just lets the cat die? And will God really be influenced one way or another by whether or not anybody prays for the animal? I guess I operate on the basis of a different paradigm. I think of God as ultimate meaning, whatever is responsible for the laws of science, and the summation of human idealism. And I think prayer serves useful functions in helping us focus and affirm positive thoughts. But I find it hard to believe that the fate if a cat hangs in the balance over whether or not somebody prays for it. Am I wrong?