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Thought provoking blog...
Prayer is for some a soul elixir, a from of meditation for our benefit.. Like the rosary repetitions that clear our thoughts of heavy burden... a mantra. As TV-B considered, I did pray during my dad's last days... I prayed the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy....my intentions were for a "happy death" and strength for the family. I am grateful that such was the outcome.... Melody
posted by
CunningLinguist
on July 10, 2006 at 5:55 PM
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A brain and opposable thumbs. I like that TV.
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on July 10, 2006 at 1:44 PM
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I agree gome. I don't pray to an invisible person.
But I figure that the best description for what I do is prayer. It's not religious though so maybe not. How about Directional Meditation? =)
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on July 10, 2006 at 1:43 PM
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While my father lay dying
from cancer I wanted to pray for him... but for what outcome? I firmly believe that we have a path to walk. I might not like the fact that his path took him down the road of cancer and death, but who was I to ask for a different outcome. And would my request change his path? No. I wanted to ask for peace and lack of pain... but perhaps there were lessons he needed to learn from the turmoil and pain. Who am I to know what should be the outcome for anyone? I think prayer is a bit arrogant... telling God what we want the outcome to be. Asking him to change is mind. And even if their version of God existed, with the billions upon billions upon billions of stars, planets and lifeforms, I think he might just have bigger things to deal with than me. Perhaps that's why he gave me a brain and opposable thumbs... to take care of the details on my own.
posted by
TVBlogger
on July 10, 2006 at 11:00 AM
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SuccessWarrior - this is even "odder" - I agree
Where I don't spend a second of my time attempting to communicate with some invisible guy, there is a lot to be said for focusing one's thoughts. All mental disciplines need some inner reflective effort and a deeper level of concentration in an effort to facilitate positive outcomes. Where I feel that whatever works for a person is entirely up to the individual, it is the lack of logic in the premise of petitioning God with prayer that I take issue with.
posted by
gomedome
on July 10, 2006 at 10:45 AM
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Odd as this may sound coming from me, I think that prayer is useful
I define prayer differently than most and admit that there are limits but I do think that we can shape our future with our thoughts.
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on July 10, 2006 at 10:22 AM
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WhiteJedi - What I don't understand is how a person can reconcile all of
the times that their prayers are not answered.
They usually dismiss an unfavourable outcome as "God's will" which in itself suggests that praying is a useless exercise. After all, if God has predetermined the outcome (according to this logic) then what is the point of petitioning him through prayer, to reverse his decision?
posted by
gomedome
on July 10, 2006 at 8:39 AM
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You are right...
Prayer tends to lend a false sense of control to circumstance that only fate and chance have any say in. Prayer also involves less action on the person's part. To me it's a sign of not caring enough to actually do anything.
posted by
WhiteJedi
on July 10, 2006 at 8:04 AM
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