What Is The Point Of Prayer?

[Cyberman]

Ever seen people throw salt over their shoulder after spilling it? Knock on wood for luck? Carry lucky totems, such as rabbits' feet, four leaf clovers, horse shoes etc? Walk around ladders rather than under them? Cross their fingers?

Superstitions? Sure yes, I don't do anything like that myself. Well ok I may salute the odd magpie to cancel the bad luck but I'm trying to stop myself from doing that. Walking around ladders is a better idea anyway as something could drop onto you or the ladder could collapse with you under it.

Right, so you've found a practical use for the original superstition of not desecrating sacred geometry, or whatever the hell it was (it's late, I'm tired, I have to be up early, then get out of bed, I can't be arsed to look this shit up right now.)

Read up on how someone else imagines the positions of the planets relative to certain background stars dictates their actions?

Astrology? Horoscopes are a load of cobblers certainly that generally just consists of making a number of general statements that can be apply to anyone. The higher level occult mystical/Kabbalist stuff is interesting though it's all a bit metaphorical and symbolic of inner self than a means of telling the future.

But it's still shit, whatever garnish is put on it. Good; I'm glad we're on the same page up to now.

When these and many, many other superstitious rituals are assessed critically, we find that the results of them are indistinguishable from blind chance. Realising they are imaginary doesn't stop people from doing them. It doesn't even slow them down.

If you're talking about prayer it does very definitely have a direct physical effect on an individual than science can observe certainly, it isn't some kind of a superstition.

Here's where the point goes missing. My comparisons were in reply to your observation that people would have stopped doing something proven to be a lie. Clearly, this doesn't happen in the examples I mentioned. The only prayer (nyuk nyuk) for prayer at this point is special pleading.

They have been studies on the brain scans of someone in prayer. What tends to be stimulated here are the regions of the brain associated with consciousness such as the temporal lobes and the areas of the brain associated with bodily and spacial awareness begin to shut down.

Brain scans of people engaged in thinking show activity in parts of the brain involved with thinking. Earth shattering.

It's somewhat similar to Buddhist mediation as well there is something called contemplative prayer in Christianity which runs along very similar lines. The main difference is that the aim is to partake of God as a distinct separate entity to yourself rather than merge into him and become part of God yourself.

One question: if this stuff is proven as you submit, why aren't all neuroscientists religious?

Only one man in Christianity was a part of God as you know.

No, I don't know. Hey, I guess that's why they call me an atheist!

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That's it, Morpheus has defeated me (and I'm not talking about The Matrix). You may fire when ready.