Well, this one is not going to win me any popularity contests!
Nevertheless, one hopes that you have the seriousness, energy, and integrity to openly attend to this.
Although i may have had a profound spiritual nirvana-oriented “experience,” which (if it indeed happened) would definitely cause me to realize the reality of that vast, sacred intelligence… i generally do not pray. With regard to human beings praying, it is indeed amazing how many people think that they have to point out (to that vast, supreme intelligence) what needs to be done in life. If it is indeed vast and intelligent, it wouldn’t need a middle-man (i.e., a basically primitive, fragmentary, limited, little hominid species) to tell it what needs to be done. A human being may think that he or she must point out what he or she or what others need… but that, in a big way, may be arrogant, limited, and insulting. Furthermore, some people may maintain that praying makes them feel better. Well, alcohol and other drugs make a whole lot of people feel better but that does not mean they should be frequently used.
Additionally, many people in life have problems and need help. There would be no end to any divine, miraculous activity of helping people (and animals) once that ball gets rolling. Nature is basically allowed to (naturally) run its course. My suggestion — and i’ve said this before — is, instead of using symbolic words, mental supplication, and summoning wishes toward a supposed God-oriented image in your head… actually roll up your sleeves and do something. For many years, i was a teacher for the multiply handicapped. Instead of merely praying and wishing that their lives improved, i actually did something. Perhaps — at times — one can be somewhat of an extension of that vast, unimaginable, compassionate intelligence, (without merely relying on internal wishes and invocations), without requesting some invisible power to magically get things done.
And please don’t continue to anthropomorphize things; and, of course, that sacred immensity doesn’t want to be worshipped (by fragmentary minds) via idolization, because it certainly doesn’t have a primitive, narcissistic human ego (thank goodness) that craves adoration. One is suggesting here that large numbers of humans have misconstrued what true spirituality entails… but then, one has realized that fact ever since one was in grade school.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
One is so right, Tom
Yes, Michael, and there is a Santa Claus, if one gives gifts to needy kids on Christmas. 😉
I couldn’t agree with you more Tom. But that is due to me not having faith in any organised religion and not praying. I do have faith in ‘action’ though. I love what Nelson Mandela said, “Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, and vision with action can change the world.”
Only one issue this time ….
your last sentence sounds slightly egotistical to me 😉 ( obviously connected with my stuff ). Spiritualism is talked about too much in my opinion. It is as it is – we either feel it or we don’t. Perhaps it’s something we need to ‘do’ (?)
Thanks Tom – you got me thinking again but perhaps that wasn’t the objective 😊
Margaret, thinking is good, if it involves in-depth pondering. I’m not against thinking; thinking is a wonderful, great tool, if used in an orderly, appropriate way.
Spirituality is much more than a feeling. It involves depth of accurate, unadulterated perception, insight, compassion, and an immense (but joyous) seriousness. 😊
actually roll up your sleeves and do something. Great advice. We are on the same page here. I’m all about gratitude for inspiration and a nudge now and then. I don’t know if I’d call what I do as prayer, more like a conversation especially when driving. Therein is the gratitude. Somehow, I get from point A to point B and back again without any harm to all concerned, safely. I LOVE the photo! You bring it up close and personal. I don’t see well and photographs bring me details I will never see otherwise.
Thank you, Marlene! Inner perception — with depth — is much more significant and important than outside (i.e., distance) seeing. 😉
Couldn’t have said it better
Thanks much, sanjotown! I’m so glad that some folks see beyond the ordinary. 😊
Well Tom, I do believe in the power of prayer, but not just for myself. I do ask God to consider helping out many people I know who are ill and I mean really ill with life-threatening illnesses. I also say prayers for myself – the world is not so great right now and I have worries about everything from the weather to crime to idiot drivers. I sometimes step out of the house and cross my fingers I return. I would like to enjoy my golden years and hope to do so. I also light candles for myself and others at an online site. I have not gone to church in a very long time – you don’t have to be in a building to pray. My father was agnostic and my mother was Catholic. My father would not take us to church when I was growing up as he did not want to get up on Sundays since he was up early six days a week for work. My mother didn’t drive, so I attended Sunday School with various friends through the years: Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic – no harm. The yellow makes me mellow in this picture – hope the bee enjoyed itself nuzzling and sipping the flowers.
Well, Linda, i respect your position on this but i certainly do not agree with it. I think it’s best to look deeply into all of this — with wisdom, immense inner honesty, and logic — and not just rely on what we would want to happen. What we want may be totally different than what reality consists of (and i certainly do not want to deceive myself for any reason). Desire has little place in true spiritual inquiry really. Desire is an obtrusion of thinking, and desire often feels good but it has no place for perceiving the actual truth. That being said, i feel that what you are doing sure beats being a close-minded atheist who thinks that nothing sacred exists or ever will exist. 😉
Yes Tom – we can agree to disagree, but I do wonder how a close-minded atheist can have those beliefs – it is sad.
Yes, it is sad, and very superficial. 🤔
It’s refreshing to read another person expressing what is true. Truth never wins immediate popularity but is necessary nonetheless. 🙂
Many thanks, Astrid! I’m so touched that you see something in what i had written. 😊 Unfortunately, the vast majority of people tend to habitually see things the way they were taught (or indoctrinated) to see them. They are habitually used to going — often mindlessly — in a certain direction (that was carefully arranged for them to proceed through). Then someone like myself comes along and they feel uncomfortable and/or threatened. People need to look beyond the norm, to look beyond being secondhand; they need to stand alone and not be afraid of being different.
Yes, indeed. We are lucky to have a drive to want to be different.🙂
Perhaps you were the answer to the prayers of the handicapped people’s loved ones, Tom.
I agree that it is not up to us to tell God or the Universe what to do for our individual benefit … but the Truth lies beyond the thinking mind. And beyond our small separate self. Perhaps prayer acts like a beacon to hone or increase the the healing energy and love. 🙏🏻
Look, Val Boyko, thoughts (including praying) are symbolic, virtual, and always consist of secondary reactions of (and from) the past. 😉 Saying that certain thoughts (which you call “prayer”) act like a magical beacon to hone or increase energy is what primitive humans believed many millennia ago… which was so crude, unrefined, and egotistical. Prayer-oriented mental efforts, via thoughts, are part of the very root of the egotistical, illusory ego (i.e., self). One then thinks that one harbors some kind of occult, mental super-powers, which is so utterly vain and fanciful.
What I am referring to Tom, is beyond thought. Yes – Something early civilizations believed in and quantum physics is exploring now. The power of collective energy and intention to bring about material change challenges the ego-mind.
Quantum physics is not involved with exploring what early civilizations did. Collective beliefs have nothing to do with truth and real understanding. Many organized religions are extensions of this collective thing (of the past) and the world is full of chaos and disorder. Many egos agreeing to something do not create some kind of magical thing that is beyond thought or the illusory egos themselves. The Nazis used collective energy and intention to bring about material change and look at what good it did.
Val, if you are into collective intention, belief, and such organized stuff and such, you are at the wrong website. My suggestion is to go to one that promotes that kind of thing.
I was thinking the same Tom. Judgmental, opinionated , elitist and hierarchical thinking is not really what I am drawn to. 🙏🏻
I think you said it like it is…
Thanks much, Simon. Very glad you perceived something here.
😉
I did .. 🙂👍
Wonderful picture Tom!
Thanks, Marcela! 😊