'We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience’
(Teilhard De Chardin)
It seems to me that we don’t necessarily have to be people of faith to pray. After all, how often do we hear people exhort, ‘Oh God’ or ‘For Christ’s sake’ or ‘I hope to God this or that does or does not happen.’ This higher being seems pretty popular!
So, what is it we’re actually doing when we pray? There have been books written on the subject, not just in sacred texts but in paperbacks, articles, blogs, sermons, letters. The question debated in theological colleges, churches, mosques, temples, pubs and living rooms.
Most would agree that prayer is communicating with a higher being. Some would say that it is praying to the one and only God (whichever one that is).
And there are different types of prayer. Maybe we intercede on behalf of others, maybe it is private, personal prayer to build a relationship between creator and creation. Sometimes it’s a plea, other times praise. For many, prayer is communicating with their deity. A two-way communication where we speak, ask, and plead but also where we listen.
So, we can agree then, that prayer is a tool of communication between us and a higher being. But what about meditation and what about positive affirmations or mantras? And why is it that when something bad happens, people often turn to religious institutions or people of faith to ask them to pray for them or they seek out a church or temple and light a candle. What are we doing? And perhaps more importantly, why do we do it?
For those of you who know me, it won’t come as much of a shock to hear me say that these days I sit lightly, very lightly to church doctrine. I have met so many more people outside of the church who are truly spiritual beings than inside it. People who speak openly and easily about their spirituality, about their yearning for that elusive ‘something else.’ I love these conversations. They lift my heart and make my soul soar. Since studying theology as an undergraduate, all those many, many years ago, I have been attracted to those who sit lightly to the heavy, oppressive, outdated doctrines of an established church and who have down the ages bravely challenged them from within.
One vivid memory that has stayed with me is when, as an undergraduate, I lay down on my bed one evening in my halls of residence to read Bishop John Robinson’s controversial, ground-breaking book, Honest to God. A ‘little hand grenade of a book’ as described by one reviewer. Today, it might not raise an eyebrow but when it was published in 1963, this book shook the traditional view of God and challenged me to really think about what I believed. The book talked about God as ‘the ground of our being’, that love is the key to the divine ground of being and that Jesus is ‘the man for others’ who lived that love.
Later, as I trained for ordained ministry I came across another brave bishop, John Spong, a liberal bishop from the US who called for reform of the traditional theistic view of God. He said that:
‘Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.’
Yes! I thought! Here are two bishops, leaders within the established church that can see beyond the trappings of pre-Darwin thought.
John Spong died last year at the age of 90. In his obituary was an extract of his writing read out by his daughter at his funeral.
‘I cannot tell you who God is or what God is like. No one can do that. So, let me speak subjectively because that is all I can do. I experience God as the Source of Life, which means the only way I can worship God is by living fully. I experience God as the Source of Love, which means that the only way I can worship God is by loving wastefully… the only way I can worship God is by having the courage to be all that I am capable of being.
There is more of this of text which John Spong named ‘My Mantra.’ I have a copy on my phone and read it at least once a week. He is my guru, my go to spiritual guide.
So yes, I do pray, I pray in recognition of that spark of the divine within us all. I believe our souls are as integral a part of us as our DNA. The aching we experience comes from that place that longs to be spiritually fed. And the food we feed it comes from many different sources. My colleague prays to Allah, along with many millions of Muslims across the world. My yoga friends repeat their sankalpas or mantras, finding solace within. Those who meditate with me each week find that nourishment within the silence of that moment. Others find it in art or nature, the sea, the mountains, in friendship, in children.
I believe that we are all, in Teilhard De Chardin’s words,
‘Spiritual beings having a human experience’
So, what do you think? Am I delusional? Away with the fairies? (Now that’s another topic altogether!).
I’d love to know your thoughts.