Praying, is this quality good or bad?
Even being a skeptic, I have to admit that I do get some relief when I sit and close my eyes and contemplate. I guess this may sound like praying, but in a very non-religious way. I presume, one can be unfaithful, dishonest to others but never to himself, because he cannot hide the truth from himself. Now, once in a while confiding to one’s self, realizing what you did wrong, calmly thinking and negotiating in one’s own mind is definitely a relief. Which is perfectly normal, and I guess inevitable sometimes to a religious person via a prayer. After all we are human beings not super beings, everybody needs some counseling and not everybody can afford a shrink!! Right?!!
Praying religiously is just another manifestation of psychological relief. My kind of prayer is a simple one(I don’t like that word though!!). I would just close my eyes, wish myself best of luck before an exam or sit and breath calmly in case of something important, as simple as that. So, in simple terms that’s what a prayer is or should be for an atheist/agnostic/skeptic or rather anybody. Religious people call it praying, but I would rather call it..errr..Stress Busting, I guess. For me especially, its appalling sometimes, I don’t understand, how praying has turned out in various religions . In Islam for example, one has to pray 5 times daily, no matter what happens. Even if its the Armageddon, one has fall down on his knees and start praying not once but be servile and beg for 5 times. Ironically for skeptic like me, I would rather say all my childhood prayers,festivals,were fun, loving experiences!!. Probably, luckily,for me, even being in one of the most religious castes, my parents were never orthodox. I was always looking forward to any religious festival, not because I was religious but only because it was fun. I mean there was good food being prepared, loads of friends and cousins coming and going. It was more of a social gathering to me than a religious ceremony. I am not specifying that, this is always the case in Hindu societies, there are many cases where a person is obsessed with prayers or frequent ceremonies, visits to holy shrines. This kind of obsession really surprises me, I cannot contemplate that a person definitely has to go to a holy shrine in order to say his prayers(even though again!!, that’s not a compulsion in Hindu philosophy!!!). Duuuh….helloooo…god is supposed to be omnipresent yo!!(imagine this phrase in a Jesse Pinkman accent from Breaking Bad…lol.anyway..). God’s supposed to be everywhere!!right?. Why the hell then you would you like to climb 7 mountains and then go and pray. It can be a fun trekking trip though. Well climbing 7 mountains can be a relief to some, I can get that too, But why!!! The thing is, a religious kind of prayer,I guess probably could be a good gesture when considering only with respect to psychological relief.
But if rationally weighed, every religious person should always ask one question to himself, “What if I am talking to an Imaginary friend!?”
What I mean is, its really silly for a religious person to pray. Yeah, that’s no typo there, Its REALLY SILLY for a religious person to pray..Why? You ask!! read on…
One thing every religious person will and should agree on, is that God is an Omnipotent God, Omnipresence, Omniscient and of course Omnibenevolent. No religious person should deny this fact. If you deny this, well god definition is different to you then!, and that would be different discourse on a different day entirely. Anyway, now if god is all knowing, always/everywhere present and having total knowledge, then why ask him for anything in the first place!!, will he not provide!!. Does god not know what good and bad is? Do we have to always remind him, bribe him in a temple in order to get what we want. Now, before I say anything else, dont give me bull crap that one has not been devoted enough..blah blah..I dont want that crap. But why do we want to ask him in first place?. The desires we have good or bad, devoted or not devoted, are made in our brain, which is made by god himself, right?!, then why put bad thoughts, less devotion in our brains in the first place!!! Flippin hell!! Can you contemplate that!!!.
Well is god not omniscient?, then why remind him. Is god not omnipresent, then why go places to pray. Is god not omnipotent, then why remind him of his ultimate authority. A different answer/question totally arises from praying, and that is, Is god really there?!!! Consciously or unconsciously a prayer to a very religious person is a cry for help, a cry asking god to come back to his terms, a cry to remind him of his duties. These thoughts should always ponder in the mind of a religious person when he prays. But they bloody don’t!!!!!???!! again, that’s an entirely different blog topic!!!!
Anyway, so finally, why pray????Only one thing crosses my mind again and again and again! And that is psychological relief only. For a religious person believing in a supernatural being and then begging him/praying to him will definitely bring him some relief. If that’s the only purpose, purpose I mean in achieving psychological relief, I have no hassle against it. But, if one is really obsessed with prayers I think he has real psychological problems or rather personal serious problems which he cannot confide to his friends, family. Hence, has to confide to a non-existent being.
I am a skeptic and will always be, but I am not at all against religious people praying(I’m against religion itself, I pity people praying actually). I have got friends and family who are very religious and we really do sometimes get into nice and healthy discourses. If I offended anyone so far, I’m sorry…….OIYEE.. one minute…why the hell should I apologize, why did you read so far if you were offended, FLIP OFF. I take back my apology…Go and pray and do whatever rings your bell….Thanks.
Peace.
Indian Infidel a.k.a Dilip Mantripragada 