Pray to who????

The Intuition in Religion..........any Religion.

What is your gut feeling towards the religious habit you are doing at this time. If you will for a moment think of religion this way.

Quote from another source.....

“Think about exactly what happens when we pray to a deity – any deity of any religion. We may not be consciously aware of it, but when we pray to a deity we are actually acting with many unspoken assumptions:

1) We assume the deity exists. If the deity does not exist, the prayer would go out to no one, and the praying would be rather meaningless and pointless.

2) We assume the deity can hear us. If the deity exists but cannot hear us for any reason, then praying won't do us any good.

3) We assume the deity is actually listening. Even if the deity exists and has the ability to hear prayers, it is still conceivable that the deity isn't listening.

4) We assume the deity cares about our problems. What if the deity does exist, can hear, is listening, but doesn't care? We think we are praying to a caring deity, but what if that isn't true?

5) We assume the deity will help. What if the deity does care deeply, but will not do anything about the situation? Suppose the deity, for whatever reason, wants to let events unfold of their own accord?

6) We assume the deity's help will be timely. What if the deity provides assistance too late, after the problem is over and the disaster has already run its course? If so, then the prayer is still meaningless even if all of the above requirements are met.

In order for our prayers to be meaningful, we need all of the above to work. If just one of the assumptions turns out to be incorrect, then the whole thing falls flat. It is easy to see that this is like a chain where all the links have to be solid. If any one of the links breaks, the entire chain is broken.

How can we know that all the links are solid? We cannot. Of course, the conventional approach is that we must have faith. However, note that this does not mean one single belief or one single investment of faith. It is clear from our analysis that each link in the chain represents an unknown all by itself, and requires its own leap of faith.
Therefore, when you pray to a deity, you are not just assuming the deity exists, you are in fact making multiple leaps of faith well beyond the question of existence. This is something usually glossed over and not explicitly explained in religious practices.
Now let us examine what happens when we direct the prayer inward and connect with the Buddha nature.

1) Do we exist? Yes, we know that we exist.

2) Can we hear ourselves? Yes, we can hear.

3) Are we listening to ourselves? Yes, we are listening.

4) Do we care about our own problems? Yes, we care very much.

5) Will we do something to help ourselves? This is entirely up to us.

6) Will we help ourselves in a timely manner? Again, this is entirely up to us.

Suddenly, things look dramatically different. This particular chain has no weak links; it can be as strong as we want it to be. We are not at the mercy of any single link, because none of them can break unless we blatantly sabotage ourselves. The six great unknowns have become six great certainties, so we don't need to make any leaps of faith at all.”

how can we pray if we dont believe in anything

All of your questions are a matter of faith. Faith in and of itself is an assumption based on preconceived notions. When I say that I believe anything, whether it be of a spiritual notion or not, I assume that what I believe is true.

Originally posted by theconspiracyisherenow
how can we pray if we dont believe in anything

Replace "pray" with meditation. It is a known fact that meditation does work.
Do a search for how to meditate in a proper way....there are many to choose
from.
A diety has nothing to do with meditation, you don't have to believe in anything,
it will open your eyes to what the truth is to you.....inside, in your mind if you are ready to try.

Only you can do this, for you.

If not..........oh well..........see ya.

I personally do not pray because I cannot make all the leaps of faith listed by merky. However, for those that can, why shouldn't they pray?

I think that there are benefits to those who engage in a spiritual practice in which they believe. I know some people who meditate, some who light candles, some who pray, some who study ancient texts, some who chant, etc. Someone who normally chants wouldn't feel like they had accomplished anything if they merely lit candles. Someone who meditates might feel silly saying a prayer.

However, aren't there benefits to having engaged in a spiritual practice that are independant of the type of practice?
In other words, all of those I mentioned above might feel calmer, less stressed, have lower blood pressure, or something of the sort, if they were involved in a spiritual practice that they were comfortable with performing. What do you think?

thank you for the advice merky iwill try to advice.


[edit on 24-12-2006 by theconspiracyisherenow]