Stanks God

[paulhope]

When I travel for work I can expense the cab ride to JFK, so I use a local car service. Normally, they are pretty reliable. But when I left my building at 7pm to catch the cab, it wasn't there. I phoned the service and asked them if it was on its way

Comments

[paulhope]

I should say that I am deeply ambivalent about the role of prayer in my life, and also that my view of it has changed a lot. The conversation I was referring to with Katie was several years ago.

That said, I could summarize my current views:

I would say that there is no empirical basis for the practical efficacy of prayer through, for lack of a better word, "supernatural" forces.

However, I do think there's lots of evidence for prayer playing a significant role in the psychology of people who do it.

A difficult thing about prayer is that it seems to entail certain theological commitments and those commitments are subject to scrutiny.

One of the interesting things to me about the cabbie's theological account of prayer is that it appears to open up some of the psychology of prayer (i.e. sincerely articulating a desire, considering that desire as being heard by somebody sympathetic, reflecting on the desire to determine whether it is a good desire) while providing a positive alternative to disappointment if the expressed desire is not fulfilled.

Maybe more subtly, in terms of the practical consequences of the theology go, the way one conceives of ones relationship with God is an important thing for a theist. Believing that you shouldn't trouble God with your earthly needs vs. believing that God has a responsibility to address your demands is a profound difference in world view.

I think of prayer as a method of internal mental conditioning: you are training yourself to think about desire, or love, or gratitude, in a certain way. Different ways of conceiving of prayer will affect the way that conditioning plays out.

[anosognosia]

Yes really this.