Be Better than Prayer, you can be and often are!
It is not true that any problem is halved when you talk about it to somebody.
You just feel different about it. It is like talking about it makes it
seem different. But it is not really different. Why and how the
brain does this is a mystery. character
Talking about the problem is a placebo. So is praying about it.
It takes a bit of work to keep seeing that the problem is still a problem. Your perception that it is not as bad can do you harm. It is downright disgraceful if your worry is about another who needs you to be accurate to help them.s
I do not need to pray. I just have to wish good on the world and those who inhabit it. That changes me into a better person and if it doesn’t it will at least not let me get any worse. Only then will my wish get a chance to make a difference in the world.
Why am I not just wishing good on others and letting that change me?
Why am I praying? I just don't trust myself to be good unless a god helps
me. That is negative and dangerous.
If God is creator then God alone really matters which makes prayer the most
important activity of all. It is really the only thing that matters. But
we admire the person who acts as if prayer will not help the other person and
who does all they can for them. That shows how hypocritical our praying is.
Any time you hear of somebody having a problem make a wish that the problem
didn’t happen and that as it has it will be mended. This is not magical. It is
you resolving to be better than the way things are. It is siding with the person
even against the universe or any God that might exist. Always think
compassionate thoughts for compassion is the chief virtue. Wish people well but
do not insult them by praying for them. Wishing them well is not praying for
them. Prayer is accepting the way things happen - wishing is opposing it.
You are your own God. You answer your own prayers. You do not need a Church. If
people didn’t attend Church or support it financially there would be no Church
to do harm.
You can’t always have somebody to talk to. Talking to another person about your
problems is important. It helps make your thinking clearer. It makes you think
of trying some possible solutions. You don’t feel so alone. You feel supported.
Even if you talk to a fantasy friend in your head it helps. Prayer is talking to
a fantasy friend. Prayer in itself does not help - it is the role-playing
Most of us live happy and fruitful lives without thinking of prayer and religion
very much. So we don't need them. Religion is a problem. There are problems and
there are solutions. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of
the problem. Solve the problem of religion by ceasing to be a part of it. Be a
member of the human family seeing all people as brothers and sisters. Do not
limit yourself by thinking you need a religion.
Somebody is very ill. What matters? Is it wishing and hoping they will get well?
Or is it praying for them? Praying for them is pointless if you don’t want them
to get well. So your good wishes are what matters. If a choice is forced on you
- good wishes or prayer what do you choose? The good wishes. To say that God
alone matters or even comes first is simply to implicitly insult the sick
people.
