Question about praying

Question

This is a theoretical question about God (or about "a god").

If the best way to talk to God was not to talk to God at all, how would I know?

Perhaps the dual of your question may be useful: "What's the best way to listen to God?" From there, the question of the best way to talk to God becomes much easier to address. — Cort Ammon, Dec 12 '15 at 20:54
@Jack Maddington You differentiate between "God" and "god". Is there any reason? — Jo Wehler, Dec 12 '15 at 21:04
Are you asking about prayer in the context of philosophy or are you looking for general life advice? or is your answer linked to a specific religion? (we have SEs for Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism) — virmaior, Dec 12 '15 at 23:57
Even today, you do not wait to see God in order to pray him. you pray god and then see him. — Christina, Dec 13 '15 at 06:53

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 13 '15 at 05:45

3

This is not a "philosophical" question, but it is a good question. Allow me to offer a personal (thus not "philosophical") answer.

I am a secular, passionately Marxist, skeptical, hopeful being. I like to go into churches and pray. Why?

Because we are creatures of and participants in "communication." We are constructed to speak and be spoken to.

This is, to me, why "communion" and "communication" and "communism" share an etymology.

When we pray we speak in a way that exceeds the utility of "speech." Prayer is the most profound and "inductive" exercise of language.

answered Dec 13 '15 at 05:45

Nelson Alexander

13,532
3
29
53

Could you elaborate on that a bit for me? If you are secular, which church did you choose to attend and why that particular one? Do you go to multiple different churches? As you are secular but not an atheist, I'd like to know what you based your decision on. My guess is that you chose church X for traditional reasons, or perhaps because you associate more with church X than Y. I agreed with your answer, though it was a personal one :-) – Dylan Meeus Dec 14 '15 at 13:48
1

I choose churches randomly, though based somewhat on aesthetics. The interiors, the sermon. Many catholic churches in Manhattan are open all day and very quiet so you can just go in and sit. I also appreciate the fact that this architecture emerged out of words, a story, and that the institution is far older than the nation it sits within, a corridor in history. – Nelson Alexander Dec 14 '15 at 13:53
Thank you for your reply @Nelson. Interesting approach to this, but it makes sense to me – Dylan Meeus Dec 14 '15 at 15:22

Chris Sunami · Answer 2 · 2015-12-16T02:30:27.460

There are two possible ways of interpreting your question --as referring to non-verbal praying, or as referring to not praying at all.

Either way, the most typical answers would be a) through the writings or traditions of your religion, b) through the agency of trusted religious figures and/or members of your religious community or c) through some form of direct communication from God to you. Most religious people operate through some combination of these three.

You might further ask how you might validate the guidance you receive, but that's a separate question.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 13 '15 at 03:50

I'm not clear on your initial statement (a god which might not be God?), so this is to answer the second part (quotes and comma added):

If the best way to talk to God [were] to be "not to talk to God at all", how would I know?

This presupposes first that there is God or a god to talk to. Also, to forward the argument, let's assume that it is actually best not to attempt to pray/talk to God. So, how would anyone know this?

First one would have to have a worldview/theology in which to understand the purpose of talking to God. If God himself doesn't command us not to talk to him, we would have to understand it from the teachings or theology of the worldview we had.

For example, the Christian religion gives many examples of prayer, and teaches that people should pray - for example, the disciples asked Jesus "Teach us how to pray" - and he obliged them. Jesus himself is described as praying many times and then is described as giving us an example of how to live, so clearly Christianity would not fit into this mold - it argues for believers to pray and have a relationship with God and/or Jesus.

Other worldviews may not come to this view, but that would be determined through their assumptions about God and the world, and would need to be determined through investigation into their teachings and practice. For example, my understanding of Buddhism is that you do not pray in the sense that you talk to God, but you do meditate, which is intended to further one's spiritual life, but apart from God/god(s). This is based on Buddhism's understanding of the world and what our purpose as humans is in the world.

So, in the end, the idea of whether you should or need to talk to God or pray just flows naturally from an understanding of a worldview or religion. Even in the case that God himself, or one of his prophets, specifically tells you to pray or not to pray, that will be a command that is based on the presuppositions and framework of a specific religion or worldview only, and other worldviews would not be bound to it. You still would need to choose which worldview that you wish to subscribe to in order to understand the application of your question to yourself.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 14 '15 at 13:33

You equivocate between god and God; which leads me to suspect that perhaps you possess or struggling to possess a non-traditional conception of god/God.

Un-named and unknown; or named and unknown and yet there - it might be called the numinous or spiritual; an inner or inward dimension; one in a way can only lean which way the spirit leans - which takes a certain kind of listening and divining.

Question about praying

4 Answers4