There's something about a prayer that sits very well with my atheistic mind. byonic's been a very good listener to whatever rant I have on at the time, and I've expressed a lot of myself to him during the however-long we've been doing this. Sometimes, I express how I wish things to happen or have happened, but most of the time, I explore myself through verbalizing what I feel. Some people are content with writing it down; I need a person to listen to what I have on my mind. I think that this kind of exploration is an important part of a good prayer. I haven't attended or taken part in one myself, but from what I know about praying, it seems reasonable to assume that this - and not wishing - is should be the main point about it. Maybe people who pray in a religious sense talk to God the same way I talk to other people. Pinging rd95: I'd like your perspective on that as a religious person.
I'm on lunch at the moment. I would love to talk prayer with you and goobster sometime this weekend if you'd like. Let me just put this out there as a start and we can go from there. My view on prayer in a nutshell is, God isn't going to intercede in worldly affairs. A large purpose of prayer is to open yourself up to understanding and following the will of God. An additional purpose of prayer is to develop the spiritual qualities to allow you to navigate the world with strength, wisdom, and poise. Feel free to ask any questions off of that. Keep in mind that though I've been raised a Baha'i, my viewpoints should be considered only that and not as Baha'i theology.
Innnteresting! I had not considered that side of it. By voicing your desires, you are also taking ownership of them, rather than just pushing them down in the back of your brain. So whether you are "heard" by some god-being or not is of secondary benefit. The primary benefit is owning your desire and figuring out how to ask for what you want. That's a powerful thing. Meditative. Cool. That gives me some more nuanced insight into why people pray. (It's always been incomprehensible to me, so this is valuable. Thanks!) A large purpose of prayer is to open yourself up