A beautiful perspective on prayer ...

[Jayhawker Soule]

The following was brought to my attention recently, and I felt it worth sharing ...

To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time?

- Abraham Joshua Heschel

Heschel, author of the wonderful book The Sabbath, also wrote: "Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme."

 

[Dunemeister]

I fully agree with Heschel. Our affluent society has turned prayer into a cajoling of God for this or that goodie. Cultivating awe for God is a forgotten art.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Cultivating awe for God is a forgotten art.

That is one interpretation. Thank you.

 

[DadBurnett]

To me, prayer is not about petinioning God, it is all about coming to and cultivating a personal awareness of God and Christ.

 

[sojourner]

And not just an awareness. We are aware of icebergs by the 10% we can see. Prayer allows us to get inside God and inside ourselves and inside life. Prayer allows us to see depth, rather than just the surface.

 

[DadBurnett]

And not just an awareness. We are aware of icebergs by the 10% we can see. Prayer allows us to get inside God and inside ourselves and inside life. Prayer allows us to see depth, rather than just the surface.

I agree, to a point. Prayer does lead to an increased, enhanced, deeper, more powerful personal revelation of God. Yet the mystery remains ... it seems to be that the created is not capable of experiencing or perceiving the infinite "Allness" of God. Prayer does draw us into a closer relationship and, while more than just the tip of the iceberg is revealed, there still remains infinitely more of God than the human mind can comprehend.

 

[LittlePinky82]

I fully agree with Heschel. Our affluent society has turned prayer into a cajoling of God for this or that goodie. Cultivating awe for God is a forgotten art.

I think so too and am guilty of that myself sometimes. One thing I like about prayer is my personal relationship to God. It's always having someone to talk to and to listen to you about things and it's always good to get things off your chest.

 

[LittlePinky82]

I agree, to a point. Prayer does lead to an increased, enhanced, deeper, more powerful personal revelation of God. Yet the mystery remains ... it seems to be that the created is not capable of experiencing or perceiving the infinite "Allness" of God. Prayer does draw us into a closer relationship and, while more than just the tip of the iceberg is revealed, there still remains infinitely more of God than the human mind can comprehend.

Right. As a gnostic Christian I believe we can all eventually get to that same understanding that Jesus had of the spiritual and one tool we have to do that is prayer. Things are always changing and we're always growing as people so since we're always growing we're never going to 100% be there with God so to speak on this plane anyways.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Some excellent comments concerning prayer imho...

We are told to offer up prayers to G‑d, in order to establish firmly the true principle that G‑d takes notice of our ways, that He can make them successful if we serve Him, or disastrous if we disobey Him; that success and failure are not the result of chance or accident.

Thus, the time of prayer is the time of self-judgment and self-evaluation. When a person addresses himself to G‑d and prays for His blessings, he must inevitably search his heart and examine himself whether he measures up to the standards of daily conduct which G‑d had prescribed for man to follow.

Prayer is an act of working with oneself and changing oneself. We are not just directing words at G-d. We are also directing our prayers at ourselves, our very souls. We are not the same at the end of the prayer as we were when we began. We've changed.

And fwiw, I found this very meaningful, beautiful even....

 

[Watchmen]

I always viewed prayer not as petitioning God, but as a humbling experience meant to reinforce the supreme.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Sure, but an important aspect of humility is not to judge one's own perspective as the only correct one. Prayer can take many forms depending on the prevailing circumstances of the aspirant's life at the time of prayer.