[ExI] religious question

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 01/05/2020 07:08, Kunvar Thaman wrote:
> My mom is a bit more religious, but she worships by doing some praying 
> for things like the better health of the family or better education 
> for us, etc. She addresses no one in particular, just closes her eyes 
> and says stuff like 'May you have ____' .

I can see prayer being a form of organising your thoughts, clarifying to 
yourself what's important to you, what your goals are, etc., or perhaps 
meditation of some kind. That would certainly be useful.

Personally, I wouldn't call it 'prayer', though.
It's interesting to think that some atheists might 'pray' in this sense, 
as well as some religious people. If someone calls themselves religious, 
but doesn't actually believe in any gods, just has a vague concept of 
something like an organising force in the universe, then if they pray, 
their prayers would be in this same sense.

I'd have thought, though, that for the most part, prayer is a part of 
worship (in the sense I mentioned earlier, abasement and begging for 
favours). The whole kneeling down and placing your hands in a 
supplicating gesture thing reinforces that.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc