does anyone here "pray"

I mean engage in directed thought about something you care about, such as good thoughts directed to a friend in distress, visualizing desired outcomes, etc.

It seems to me to be fairly analogous to theists "praying."

Does anyone do this and if so, what do you call it?

but I never thought of it as akin to praying. I just find it relaxing, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep, to imagine good outcomes to upcoming events.

I try to offer comfort to others in distress by telling them that I will "keep you in my thoughts" but I regard it as a sign of caring and respect -- not influence on the outcome.

It's a good question because I think that believers do the same thing only they call it praying and believe that their prayers. Coincidentally, sometimes things work out -- but God answered their prayers, don't you know? And when it doesn't work out, well, God has his plan and it isn't for us to question. :silly:

which is accurate, I am keeping someone in my thoughts. That's it.

But, pray, NO. Praying implies (correctly) supplicating and begging. I'm not really interested in pleading for some inexplicable help from the great beyond.

Yesterday, I heard Pres. Carter on public radio he was talking about praying on what to do about the hostages. He sounded more like he was meditating - when bush talks about praying I think he's waiting for the voices in his heads to talk.

the little bushturd's bed

LOL

"praying" involves some sort of agent, through the intervention of which the desired outcome will be facilitated. What I do is more comparable to telepathy. It is not mediated by any"body" or any"thing". A little like the hero of the "Player of A" (Einlein?.. Can't remember exactly). Good question, I find.

I consider thinking positively.

Sometimes I lay there in the dark and think about the things I want to be true

When my partner's mother got sick, her sister asked us to send some "positive energy" her way. Instead, we got busy actually helping her. "Hands that help are better than lips that pray," as Bertrand Russell said. Had he been alive today, he also might have said, "Helpful thoughts are never equal to helpful deeds,"

Great going! I'm sure she appreciates that more than "prayers" or "positive energy."

:toast:

in "positive energy" or "good vibes" or visualization

I think it is comforting and reassuring to the person in need to know that others care

never let "positive energy" substitute for actually helping though.

I think it is comforting and reassuring to the person in need to know that others care

I agree wholeheartedly. To me, the best way to convey that is by actually doing something helpful, taking over some difficult task, bringing food ("Eat, eat! Food is love!"), or even just hanging out. I am sure you do these things as well, though perhaps you also expend some energy on the good thoughts. This isn't a bad thing, but it can be a substitute for action.

never let "positive energy" substitute for actually helping though.

Truer words were never spoken.

I had just put on a benefit for a friend who is fighting cancer. We're all part of an extended "family" of songwriters (LA-Colorado-Nashville-New York-Boston) and we're doing benefits to help offset some of the enormous medical costs. We raised a bunch of money, had 15 or 20 songwriters performing throughout the evening and auctioned off CDs, music memorabilia and the like. One of the main things many of the people there spoke of was "sending positive thoughts" or "sending the love" to our friend (who is 1500 miles away and unable to travel). I don't get it. I think it "feels" good to be in a room full of people who like and support one another. It may just be internal or there may be some sort of shared biochemical underpinnings to that feeling. I don't know. But it seems highly unlikely to me that "good vibes" can travel 1500 miles. Still, we spoke with our friend on the telephone and she seemed noticeably lifted. I think the money we raised is the main thing, but I don't discount having raised her spirits.

My original post, though, was more about that small, quiet, dark moment in the wee hours when I finally crawl into bed and lay there in the darkness. In that time, I almost always think about the things that concern me or about some desired positive outcome (almost always for someone else, not me). I don't direct my thoughts to a deity or to anyone else. They're just my thoughts. I don't know if this is some basic human behavior, the residue of my sort-of-Christian upbringing (I recall my grandmother instructing us to "say our prayers" at bedtime), or what. It makes me feel better though and sometimes the desired outcome happens. I don't believe it is any mystical thing. Maybe it just helps me to focus on what's important and helps me to bring about the desired outcome. And as I say, it often makes me feel better.

It seems to be some nontheistic parallel to prayer.

about the 'keep you in my thoughts' thing being something former theists do. We can't honestly say 'I'll pray for you,' when we see or hear that someone is in a crisis, because we don't believe in a higher power who intervenes in the day-to-day world, but we're so used to having said that in our religious pasts, we may feel compelled to say something out of reflex.

I'm trying to break myself of that and just say 'hope things work out!' since I don't believe in luck, either ... though sometimes I will say 'good luck.' I stopped believing in fate and luck before I stopped believing in a higher power, so it's an even emptier thing for me to say than 'I'll pray for you,' in some ways!

And as for lying in bed thinking, I find that no matter how positive I start out, it ends up being worry, for me. Bedtime -- just for me, personally -- is probably the worst possible time to think about anything that could turn out badly, because that's the very time the worst case scenario creeps into my brain. That comes not from being a formerly religious person, but having come from a long line of pessimists, I'll wager!

I hate that.

But on balance, the good outweighs the bad for me.

Often the worry can turn into at least the germ of a positive solution

at least for me

I have with 1 or 2 people some sort of connection. A couple of times, I picked up the phone and actually had the person on the other end without having even dialed the number! There's something like telepathy, which seems to be time/space independent. I experience that in session as well. Rarely, but it happens. Freud, not really a mystic type, also noticed it and wondered about it. However, I don't make a big thing out of it. It's just there, like so many other things we can't get yet and there's no way, of course to systematize it into some sort of belief, method or anything like that. And, emphatic "yes", doing is largely ahead of thinking anyways.

"If I should die before I wake"

I had problems with nightmares for years.

Praying is an active process in which you ask a higher power for something. Fantasizing about a future event or thinking well of a friend is not the same thing. When I do the latter, I hold no illusion that the mental act will influence the outcome. As opposed to prayer, which does.

without following action.

The secret of prayer, and deep belief, is that a person creates within himself/herself a mindset for acting. Others around that person see a change, and react accordingly.

It's all about interpersonal communication, whether spoken or non-verbal.

Miracles don't happen. Coincidences do.

consider praying...

Example: After grad school, I still drove my college car - a 76 buick skyhawk that was fun to drive, got good mileage, had decent emissions... but was falling apart, leaked fluids like she was marking her territory, and had a touchy trannie. Alas, baby has gone to the great auto recycler in the boonies.

So when she was acting up (yeah, give me shit about the animism later, okay?) I found that I tended to say things like "Let's just get home," over and over. I don't consider it praying, but I suppose that others might. It was more vocalizing a wish.

Pcat

:-)

LOL!

I've had offers for the body that stunned the hell out of me.

Who knew that some people loved old beaters?

Pcat

I'm not sure it counts as praying, however. On the other hand, the car stalled, so my "prayer" was not answered.

Like to wish people "good luck" because it's to much like "praying".

I tell my son all the time praying or wishing is the surest way to get nothing done. When we're on a hike and he says something like "I wish we were at the summit." I say keep moving and you're wish will come true.

Instead of wishing people luck I express my confidence that whatever the subject is...a test or performance or whatever...they are cabable and ready to do a good job.

I say things like "I'd wish you luck but you don't need it, I know you'll ace the test."

Luck is not the same as fate, it is not something that is guided by a higher intelligence. It is simply the dice rolling your way.

If walking along the street you found a $20 bill lying in the gutter, wouldn't you consider that good luck?

All that luck is, is a positive result to coincidence. And, despite what some may say, there are such things as coincidences.

I also never say 'good luck' for another person's endeavor, because most times luck has nothing to do with it. But if a person is, say, going on a trip I'll say it because there are so many coincidences out of that person's control that could break against him/her and I hope they won't happen. Out of my control, out of their control.

Maybe they'll find a $20 bill on the ground.