Why do we Pray?

Why do we Pray?

Is “Prayer” useful?

Why do we Pray? Some may Pray to give thanks for blessings, others in desperation about needs. Some use Prayer as a means to seek understanding of themselves.

Prayers led by a religious officer, spoken while in a designated place of religion, are usually formalised recitation of known and written words. This is called Prayer, but is it? The dictionary defines Prayer as—a personal communication or petition addressed to a deity especially in the form of supplication adoration praise or thanksgiving. The personal communication appears to be missing in many religious congregations with everyone, including the presiding “officer” just reading or chanting preset words.

I Pray to “God the creator of creation” but looked at rationally this action is the utterly insignificant Praying to the totally unknown. When looked at logically creation is millions of light years across, it contains literally countless planets, galaxies and so life forms. The creator my not even be in control anymore. I have no idea what, why, how or even if, God created creation for a purpose. I am nothing and know even less. Yet I Pray, I use a quiet time to empty my mind seeking no thoughts no feelings and I seek to then connect with a force I call “God who created creation.” I freely admit my unworthiness and my total lack of knowledge, yet I offer thanks and ask for help and blessing for others. Why do this? I always end with “Thy will be done” I also Pray to Gaia as the force that governs all physical existence on planet earth. A sort of middle management with God as boss and this particular member of middle management is in charge of all physical activity on planet earth. I suppose that all planets throughout creation, which have sentient life forms, will have such a sub-God, a manager of the physical day to day existence of all on their respective planet. I also give thanks to my guardian angels for all the events where intuition or good luck have helped me avoid harm or receive a benefit.

I have no evidence that any of my Prayers reach anything, I have no evidence that any of the three forces I Pray to actually exist. Yet I feel I am communication with them, I get an almost physical sense of connection, I feel some degree of peace while Praying. I collect my thoughts, I focus on good things, things to be thankful for. I have no evidence but when circumstances cause me to go without my mediation and Prayer sessions, I miss them.

Some Pray to members of their family who have died, that is their physical bodies have ceased activity. These Prayers are based on the ideas that some part of a living being goes on after physical death and that part can be contacted. In many ways this is far more plausible than my own activity.

Many people refuse to even consider the possibility of both life after death and that any deity, any supernatural beings, exist at all. A great many others have abandoned any effort to personally understand and so they just go along with some religious rulings. They follow instructions and superficially observe rituals with only a very few appearing to have deep conviction that they are directly involved. Unfortunately, the opposite is also evident, many follow blindly the rituals and “teaching” of religious leaders without question, without attempting to consider the possibility of doubt. Without doubt and its resolution, there is only blind obedience. The worse effect of this attitude is the advent of suicide bombers and terrorists willing to break both secular and religious laws in the name of “God.” In reality they are acting for human religious rulers who are seeking earthly power rather than finding what their God requires of them. Some may be totally convinced of their own divine given power. To these people, whatever they think, it must come from God, since they think it. A very dangerous path for all around them.

So back to the question, why do we Pray? Is it to find resolution to questions and doubts that we cannot get from logic and observation. Do we only Pray when all else fails? Politically it appears- from the media, admittedly not the most honest and reliable source, that many termed extreme far right wing, politically, are also devoted Christians. That is, they follow teaching and rituals laid down by a specific facet of the wider Christian faith. Some leaders of some of the mainstream Christian

Religious orthodoxies, appear to be almost socialist in their political pronouncement but socialism has a basis in the denial of any deity. This makes for confusion over the ritual repeated Prayers uttered by these congregations.

Prayer is above all a personal thing, an attempt by an individual to make a connection to a power, an energy, a being, call it whatever you like; to offer thanks and to allow guidance to enter their mind.