What do most faiths of the world have in common? The answer I would give (an answer that has taken me a while to formulate) is prayer.
You would ask, what is prayer?
The Oxford English Dictionary definition: "A solemn request to God, a god, or other object of worship; a supplication or thanksgiving addressed to God or a god."
In Christianity, believers usually end prayers with "In Jesus' name I pray, Amen," or a different phrase paying homage to Christ.
What about Muslims, Buddhists, Hinduists, and Jews? Each faith has its form of prayer. One thing I admire about Islam is that believers literally kneel to pray to God. The act of supplication is visibly clear.
Now, what do atheists say about prayer? I only have the knowledge obtained to me about atheism from being one for one to two years of my life.
Atheists would generally say prayer is a waste of time.
...
Hypothetical atheist: Why even pray in the first place? You know, nobody listens (i.e., God doesn't exist). Are you saying there's a Flying Spaghetti Monster orbiting the Sun and all I have to do is pray to it? What about amputees? Are you saying if all of us prayed hard enough, an amputee could get his severed arm back?
...
I don't have a airtight response to the last question the Hypothetical Atheist might pose. And in an argument in which an atheist brought that up, I might lose.
A thought to consider: it is when one feels most strongly about a belief that it is most tempting to speak out.
I'm not saying atheism is wrong and Christianity or the other faiths are right. I'm saying true knowledge and wisdom recognizes a sincere acceptance of one's wrongness about many things in life.
Because life isn't so black and white. Philosophers cannot prove or disprove the existence of a God.
Life is grey. We deal with this every single day when we use language. How many times did you mean to say one thing but was totally misinterpreted? How many times have you misread others' words in your life?
And atheists--I want to know how many of you are totally devoid of spirituality.
Even Christopher Hitchens, a well-known atheist who attacks religious faiths with a seemingly-dangerous fervor, admits he could not go with the poems of "George Herbert and John Donne," two well-known metaphysical religious poets. Herbert was a 17th century Anglican priest and Donne was a 16th century English preacher.
Video source: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=891776135764757633#
I am telling you here and now, atheists, that life IS NOT so clear as you think it is. And if you continue to persist in the delusion that you are the center of the universe(that you are God), than you only persist in alienating yourself from the most ephemeral but important truths of life and from the communities of spiritual nourishment(churches, mosques, temples).
And I am not saying, 'stop being an atheist.' It's okay, I was one too. And I'm not going to be so adamant about my faith so as to challenge your belief-system.
I began with humility. My own belief is that God is humble. Radical, right? In the Christian faith, God in the form of man came to Earth in the most humble terms possible: born in a stable, worked as a carpenter, rode to Jerusalem on a donkey, and died on the Cross.
But even still. Even if you do not believe in Christianity or spirituality or religion, you've got to believe in something. As Mercedes said in the TV series Glee, "Life is too hard without something to hold on to."
Because really, prayer is about humility. It's about recognizing that you are not the center of the universe. It's about recognizing the suffering of others and showing your support to them. It's about reflection and realizing your own moral faults. It's about slowing down your life processes and meditating on the fact that life is more than your own wants and desires. It's about recognizing where you have done wrong and hurt others. It's about coming to terms with the fact that the sum total of your decisions in life have led you to a somewhat unpredictable result.
That's the power of prayer.
7 comments:
Why assume that most atheists think they are the center of the universe? If anyone does, it's those who hold religious belief. Most prayers are essentially asking for good fortune in one's life with the belief that there is a supreme being catering to one's needs, individually.
Atheists just refuse to acknowledge a supreme being until they see one, which is pretty reasonable. Generally, they don't think they have anything figured out, they're just skeptical of what religion offers and choose not to believe in it.
Atheists think exactly what you claim they don't, that life is grey and it's really impossible to know what's out there, so they definitely aren't going to believe in a fatherly figure, one who "made us in his image". As in, a human.
I think religious people, if they actually do possess humility (many don't), wouldn't feel the need to pray at all because they would just accept the cards their dealt. Kinda leave it up to the gods.
Everything you mentioned in your last paragraph is completely independent of religion, all of which can be gained through education, self-assessment, reason and a little bit of courage.
Why assume that most atheists think they are the center of the universe? If anyone does, it's those who hold religious belief.
I'm not sure I'm necessarily assuming only atheists think they are the center of the universe. Religious people fall into the same delusion. My assumptions behind these two statements are from this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html
Most prayers are essentially asking for good fortune in one's life with the belief that there is a supreme being catering to one's needs, individually.
I'm not sure you understand the diversity of prayer. I use "prayer" to describe Buddhist meditation and Hindu yoga.
Atheists just refuse to acknowledge a supreme being until they see one, which is pretty reasonable. Generally, they don't think they have anything figured out, they're just skeptical of what religion offers and choose not to believe in it.
They have one thing figured out: there is no god(s).
Atheists think exactly what you claim they don't, that life is grey and it's really impossible to know what's out there, so they definitely aren't going to believe in a fatherly figure, one who "made us in his image". As in, a human.
Why not subscribe to agnosticism? To me it seems like more of a logical choice.
I think religious people, if they actually do possess humility (many don't), wouldn't feel the need to pray at all because they would just accept the cards their dealt.
I don't think you've met many religious people. Show humility to others and they will show it to you.
Kinda leave it up to the gods.
Sounds polytheistic--almost ancient Greek.
Everything you mentioned in your last paragraph is completely independent of religion, all of which can be gained through education, self-assessment, reason and a little bit of courage.
I'd agree with you here. But faith(as far as I've seen) can provide all of those things(Sunday school, anyone?).
"I'm not sure I'm necessarily assuming only atheists think they are the center of the universe."
-- Then it would've been relevant, to make sure you address religious people on the same mistake in your article.
"I'm not sure you understand the diversity of prayer. I use "prayer" to describe Buddhist meditation and Hindu yoga."
--If you google the definition of prayer or check out the wikipedia page on prayer, you'll find the most common view to be a way to establish a connection with a god for one's own benefit or those around them.
"They have one thing figured out: there is no god(s)."
-- It's no different than being sure there is a supreme being without any physical proof.
On agnosticism--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism
"I don't think you've met many religious people. Show humility to others and they will show it to you. "
--There's nothing humble about continuing to uphold a ban on gay marriage.
(they're dealt*)"Sounds polytheistic--almost ancient Greek. "
--or the god, i don't acknowledge any. My point was that, praying for help would be trying to affect the will of a god, which to me comes across as vain.
"prayer is about humility"
--so why not write an article not to atheists or agnostics, but to other religious people. I'd assume that you would agree that there are a lot of religious people out there who don't practice in the ways you describe.
Then it would've been relevant, to make sure you address religious people on the same mistake in your article.
I'm not exactly sure how to interpret this sentence. If you could clarify what you are trying to say....
If you google the definition of prayer or check out the wikipedia page on prayer, you'll find the most common view to be a way to establish a connection with a god for one's own benefit or those around them.
With all due respect, I don't exactly treat Google and/or Wikipedia as an authoritative source on the definition of prayer. Addendum: I don't subscribe to "the most common view."
On agnosticism--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheism
Why not just call it agnosticism? Occam's Razor anybody?
so why not write an article not to atheists or agnostics, but to other religious people. I'd assume that you would agree that there are a lot of religious people out there who don't practice in the ways you describe.
You obviously haven't read much of my other stuff. Read "What is Love," "Judging," "Caring," and "Suffering Pt. 1&2," all written in October 2010. That's all directed toward Christians.
My statement was that you should've probably, if you're concerned about fairness, clearly stated in your original article that your belief that all atheists (since you didn't say "some or "a few") think they are the "center of the universe" is equally, if not more (?) prevalent among practitioners of faith. In addition, if you were concerned about making relevant statements, you probably would've explained why you think it is that all, most or a few atheists think that universe revolves around them.
I don't subscribe to "the most common view."
-- I probably should've just scrolled up to the beginning of your article and used the common oxford english dictionary definition of prayer. Why not wikipedia? Anything published on that site requires a pretty exhaustive amount of verifiable research.
"Why not just call it agnosticism? Occam's Razor anybody?"
-- Because agnostic-atheism claims not to believe in any supreme being on the grounds that they have no way of actually knowing if there is one. Whereas agnosticism just claims not to know whether or not there is a god, but says nothing about claiming there is no god. Atheism generally rejects any possibility of a deity in any form, even if it was something beyond which humans could conceive of.
"You obviously haven't read much of my other stuff. Read "What is Love," "Judging," "Caring," and "Suffering Pt. 1&2," all written in October 2010. That's all directed toward Christians."
--And I probably won't read those, but the fact that you've written them doesn't change my point: why even bother writing a single article to atheists? Especially if you are going to do it dishonestly? or in a contradictory manner?
What I mean:
"I'm not saying atheism is wrong and Christianity or the other faiths are right."
--But yet you claim that they "persist in the delusion", "alienating" themselves from the (and if i could put bigger quotes around this part i would) "important truths of life and from the communities of spiritual nourishment".
--When in fact, you have no proof of any of this. Atheists could possibly be living, on average, more fulfilling lives than religious people. And who is to say that anyone knows, or that there are, the all-encompassing truths of life. Or that there aren't even more spiritually nourishing activities that are unrelated to religion? Or that someone goes to church and feels none of the spiritual nourishment that you feel?
"And I am not saying, 'stop being an atheist."
-- That's exactly what you are implicitly and explicitly stating in this article and by writing this article, but yet you try to appear as if this is all coming from a humble standpoint by using sentence such as this.
"And I'm not going to be so adamant about my faith so as to challenge your belief-system. "
-- But that's exactly what you did? So maybe write articles that clearly outline that as your goal?
"Life is too hard without something to hold on to."
--Possibly. Maybe without something to hold on to, someone's life could be inconsequentially to extremely harder, but no one really can say what it is that someone else should hold on to.
The lengthy response I typed out was subsequently lost after I was told that it was "too large to process". Maybe it's better that way.
The most important point: your article and your message is plagued by contradiction and what I perceive to be outright dishonesty.
You say things like:
"I'm not saying atheism is wrong and Christianity or the other faiths are right."
or
"And I'm not going to be so adamant about my faith so as to challenge your belief-system. "
--But that's exactly what you are doing. You aren't being humble, even though statements like this attempt to convey that for whatever reason, when you tell atheists that their beliefs are steeped in delusion and will lead them to "alienation" from the "truths" of life. You're being arrogant and presumptuous. The act of writing an article that addresses problems with others' beliefs can be classified as the same.
And not to mention, you've stated that " Philosophers cannot prove or disprove the existence of a God."
--So...no one can? So why would you write an article attacking people for taking what you yourself have admitted and concluding that they aren't being rational if they continue to believe in a supreme being?
Keep writing the way you want to obviously, but I'd say that it's much more honest to write an article making it clear that you don't agree with another person's beliefs, instead of writing an article that implicitly states that while pretending to be objective and humble about it.
Anonymous: My statement was that you should've probably, if you're concerned about fairness, clearly stated in your original article that your belief that all atheists (since you didn't say "some or "a few") think they are the "center of the universe" is equally, if not more (?) prevalent among practitioners of faith. In addition, if you were concerned about making relevant statements, you probably would've explained why you think it is that all, most or a few atheists think that universe revolves around them.
Me: I'm not sure where you get the idea that most religious people think "they are the center of the universe." At the heart of many belief systems, it seems, is a common humility and the concept of supplication (prayer) to a higher power, deity, or set of moral principles like the Four Noble Truths, which is the point of this article. Again, the problem boils down to the fact that there is real way to quantify this sort of thing (what percentage of atheist/agnostic/religious people are deeply self-centered and in one writer's words, "dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default-setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out.").
I'm sure you'll hold different views on this, but it's useful to consider how one lives a moral life outside a belief system (what Nietzsche tried until the end of his life to resolve, somewhat unsuccessfully, through his conceptions of the "Ubermensch" and the "will to power"). Whose morals do you live by? How do you keep yourself accountable? What if murder/rape/child abuse is morally acceptable to you? If it isn't, aren't you admitting that there are certain moral absolutes? If there are, which absolutes should we live by/hold credence in everyday society?
I'll leave you with a quote from Soren Kierkegaard:
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
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