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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 8:45 am
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2021 at 8:45 am by Nay_Sayer.)
delete
"For the only way to eternal glory is a life lived in service of our Lord, FSM; Verily it is FSM who is the perfect being the name higher than all names, king of all kings and will bestow upon us all, one day, The great reclaiming" -The Prophet Boiardi-
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 12:19 pm
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2021 at 12:26 pm by Ahriman.)
Well you're not supposed to pray for "things", you're just supposed to pray because you love praying. Prayer is like a form of meditation. By praying, you're practicing detachment, meaning you're training your psyche to not become overly attached to things.
"Imagination, life is your creation"
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 12:27 pm
(October 8, 2021 at 8:45 am)Nay_Sayer Wrote: delete
(October 8, 2021 at 12:19 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Well you're not supposed to pray for "things", you're just supposed to pray because you love praying. Prayer is like a form of meditation. By praying, you're practicing detachment, meaning you're training your psyche to not become overly attached to things.
Prayer is not a form of meditation. You’re so silly.
Boru
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 12:45 pm
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2021 at 12:47 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
I get the idea of prayer being bullshit from an atheist perspective but I do not really understand the negative emotional response to other people praying or even prayer requests.
First off, I do not know any religious person who thinks prayer is a substitute for initiative. Religious people pray for guidance before deciding what to do. They request blessing for actions they commit to taking. And they ask for help after they've done all they can, as in "Its in Gods hands now." Even from a secular perspective, these are just meditation, motivation, and hoping for the best. So what's the problem besides offending antitheist sensibilities? Or maybe the mockery makes some people feel superior.
I see nothing wrong with taking less than 2 minutes of hedging your bets when you are already open to the idea that the universe is richer than it often appears to be.
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 12:46 pm
(October 8, 2021 at 12:27 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: (October 8, 2021 at 8:45 am)Nay_Sayer Wrote: delete
(October 8, 2021 at 12:19 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Well you're not supposed to pray for "things", you're just supposed to pray because you love praying. Prayer is like a form of meditation. By praying, you're practicing detachment, meaning you're training your psyche to not become overly attached to things.
Prayer is not a form of meditation. You’re so silly.
Boru
I do think it's sort of meditative in a way. For instance, praying the rosary is so much repitition it's not all that different from someone repeating a meditation chant. I assume it's calming to some people.
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 1:21 pm
(October 8, 2021 at 12:46 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: (October 8, 2021 at 12:27 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Prayer is not a form of meditation. You’re so silly.
Boru
I do think it's sort of meditative in a way. For instance, praying the rosary is so much repitition it's not all that different from someone repeating a meditation chant. I assume it's calming to some people.
Wow. You beat me to it. I was gonna exactly say the rosary is like mantra meditation. But even other forms of prayer that are silent and contemplative are similar to mindfulness meditation. (Focus on one object... usually the breath, but it doesn't have to be. Could be God, or an idea of God.)
When the Baptists get in a circle and one guy babbles for ten minutes, sometimes throwing a reference to Trump's excellence in there, now THAT is not meditation.
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 8, 2021 at 1:29 pm
(October 8, 2021 at 1:21 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: (October 8, 2021 at 12:46 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: I do think it's sort of meditative in a way. For instance, praying the rosary is so much repitition it's not all that different from someone repeating a meditation chant. I assume it's calming to some people.
Wow. You beat me to it. I was gonna exactly say the rosary is like mantra meditation. But even other forms of prayer that are silent and contemplative are similar to mindfulness meditation. (Focus on one object... usually the breath, but it doesn't have to be. Could be God, or an idea of God.)
When the Baptists get in a circle and one guy babbles for ten minutes, sometimes throwing a reference to Trump's excellence in there, now THAT is not meditation.
One of the things that really threw me for a loop when I moved to SC and got out into the working world was what I call 'Free Form Prayer'. I was so used to Catholic prayer which is said in a certain way and has specific uses (for lack of a better word) that when I first heard someone praying off the cuff with all the 'Father Gods' and 'nourish our bodies' and everything else, I was gobsmacked.
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 9, 2021 at 1:25 am
(October 7, 2021 at 11:03 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: (October 7, 2021 at 10:07 pm)Brian37 Wrote: When paying my over the phone bills, it seems the standard response is "Is there anything else I can help you with?" at the end of the call. I end the call with, "Can you get me a date with Angelina Jolie?".
This pathetic attempt at humor is becoming spammy...think about it before posting it again.
Give me a fucking break.
I'm not Brian37s biggest fan but this is just bullying. If you don't want him on the forum anymore, why don't you just come out and say so?
I think we all know this forum is in decline. Much of that is because of people's misguided attraction to social media. You might want to rethink alienating those who chose to hang around here unless you want to hasten the death of Atheist Forums.
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 9, 2021 at 2:10 am
(This post was last modified: October 9, 2021 at 2:11 am by Fake Messiah.)
My impression was that it is friendly bullying (if there is such a thing), they are bullying him "out of love", and that he doesn't mind.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: On the lunacy of prayer
October 9, 2021 at 2:24 am
(October 7, 2021 at 10:00 pm)slartibartfast Wrote: Confirmation bias.
I think this is the literal biggest one that keeps people believing in prayer. And it's conveniently built into our minds to engage in this sort of thing. It seems evolution favored an acquired belief being held onto rather than being scrutinized for its truth-value. Plenty of reasons for this. Acquired beliefs create bonds with one's tribe being a big one. The second biggest was beliefs (for most of humans' evolutionary history) were not used against people, to control them, to undermine their good senses etc.
Christianity even has a "It's God's will." explanation for when prayer doesn't work. But when it DOES work "You see? God answered your prayer! Hallelujah!" I mean, you could use this very practice as an example to explain confirmation bias fully to a person unfamiliar with the concept. If that doesn't make prayer exemplary of conf bias, I don't know what does.
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