How To Pray

I was talking to a friend the other day about praying and he said "You know, I don't believe in God" as if this would disqualify him from praying, but I said, "No big deal, you can still pray." I suppose a lot of conservative believers would not agree with me. But I think praying is a verb which can take many forms.

There is a fixed protocol for many types of prayer -- like this one for praying with a string of rosary beads in the Catholic religion. Notice what you do with your hands and how you speak the words is key here.

There are ways of prayer in religions like this, where how you position your body relative to the floor and even relative to the geography of the earth have great importance.

There are times to pray when even non-believers and those who rarely pray reach out for a way to understand suffering in this world. It's hard to imagine there can be a good side to suffering, but as this site mentions, perhaps to be reminded that you live in a world where others can comfort you and you can let them do that is very joyful. In events of terrible suffering like war, terrorist attacks, fatal diseases, car crashes, murder and all natural disasters, I always feel more sad when people take the opportunity to rail against a seemingly unjust God, instead of appreciating the way their fellow men and women rise to the occasion to comfort others in so many creative, loving ways.

When I talk about praying, I am talking about getting into a quiet, meditative state in order to hear the inner wisdom of God's intention and your own quiet heart and belief. With the overabundance of noise in a city, the conversation of people around you or the constant flow of data in your life, whether it be via email, chat, instant messaging, cell phone, tv, radio, videogames, finding a quiet place and a quiet moment is no small feat.

Just keeping in the practice of interrupting all this flow of noise and information, so you can control it and it does not control you, seems to me to be a worthwhile pursuit. Something like a spiritual work-out session at the mental gym.

What do you hear when you stop the flow?

You finally hear that most sweet of sounds -- silence.

You hear nothing if you are lucky. You might hear rain hitting the roof, or that swirl of tree leaves stroking the walls of your house.

You will hear your heart -- both your heart beating and your heart's longings.

You will hear your heart's good sense and wisdom -- an important data feed completely personalized for you and you alone.

You may hear the words of friends and relatives no longer with us, whatever that means. You'll notice when you pray, how they are most decidedly "with us" but you haven't quieted down enough lately to hear them.

Really, I don't know what you'll hear, but I do know you should try to listen now and then.