Prayer

Prayer is a response to the basic human desire to communicate with the divine, whether in anguish or in joy at some event in the life of the individual or some external event which affects him or her deeply. Even those who claim to have no real belief in God find themselves praying at times of stress. Those following a religious life will build on this spontaneous response to develop a discipline of prayer on a regular basis. Until recently, for example, it was expected that children of only nominally Christian families should "say their prayers" before going to bed, that families should attend church for prayer and worship on a regular basis, that prayers of thanksgiving - "grace" - should be said before meals and that schools should commence daily studies with a short service - "assembly". In the nineteenth century, more well-to-do families would join with their servants or work people for daily prayers.

A basic distinction is made between petitionary prayers (saying prayers) and praying. The former usually takes place as ritual repetitions or requests made at specific times and places and which may be automatic. Prayer restricted to such conventional, ceremonial worship is the mark of the spiritually immature. Nevertheless, some feeling of respite and awe is evident, as the petitioner pours out frustration and misery or expresses joy and emotion. It may be a means of expressing relief and thanks at the experience of some good, or of pain and concern for the petitioner's loved ones, or for his own future; prayers for a good harvest are an example.

Ritual prayer or incantation, where the words themselves are believed to have magical powers to produce desired results, is part of many traditional rites and folklores. In some cases, the perfect repetition of particular forms is held essential, with dire results following a mistake. Such prayer approximates closely to the repeating of charms or spells; often the overriding feeling towards the deity or spirit involved is more of fear than of reverence.

True praying, however, demands the presence and attention of the whole person. The objective of praying as a form of spiritual exercise, may be described as an effort to raise the whole psycho-physical complex which is man as a biological entity, to the level of the life of the spirit (pneuma) and achieved by participation in the ever-flowing life of the Creator-Spirit, Love.

Prayer arises from the tension between the realization of present imperfection and incompleteness and the longing for perfection and wholeness. It is a movement of mind and soul into the source of all being, the That which is called God. There a person opens himself by breaking through the narrow confines of his egohood to become one with the All and the Infinite. This experience is then translated into a response to the everyday world, a realization of the infinite in the finite, of the eternal in the temporal, and a translation of spirituality into selfless action and an all-embracing charity towards everyone and everything.

Aspects of prayer which have been distinguished include: prayer as a way of union with God and the realization of the self; the psychological aspect of prayer whereby the division between the conscious and the unconscious is overcome; prayer as a direction of the heart towards completeness, perfection and unity with the whole; prayer as a movement into the realm of the mystical; prayer as a source of power; prayer as an exploration of the reality; prayer as a means of enriching and fructifying daily life.

One description distinguishes five degrees of prayer: vocal prayer primarily in the form of adoration, thanksgiving, confession and petition; meditation at the level of the intellect, namely methodical and discursive prayer which includes considerations, arguments, and resolutions; affective prayer, in which affection and aspiration play the predominant part rather than petition; prayer of quiet simplicity or interior silence in which spiritual intuition replaces the intellect; and prayer of contemplation in which the self transcends the stages of symbol and of silence and enthusiastically energizes those levels which are dark to the intellect but radiant to the heart. St Teresa of Avila refers to stages of prayer: recollection; quiet; tumescence (wisdom which comes from inspiration); union with God.