So, I'm sitting here on the bus, oppositte me is a man. He's a buisiness man, well dressed, black, nice shoes, bald, handsome enough, early 30's perhaps.
At first glance, I thought he was asleep, I couldnt help but notice however a small, very tacky set of light blue plastic rosaries in his hands- the type you might see a child wearing as a fashion accessory.
This made me wonder about self help.
I wouldnt dream of saying that his God may/may not help this man (any beliefs I might hold are irrelevant here) however, the act itself, is of self will- in confessing your problems to someone, and in the case of religion and prayer, to the ultimate someone (surely His judgement is far worse than that of a mother or friend you may also confide your problems in) he is taking the first step towards helping himself.
Is not the saying "The first step is admitting you have a problem" ?
So whether the prayer will, later, find devine help, assistance or strength- there is a process of pure catharsis and relief in the very act of prayer itself.
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Okay, I'm gonna repost the thing I talked to you about, for the sake of clarity, lets call it the theory of asking.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard about a recent study that showed people were on average less likely to try and achieve their goals when they told friends or acquaintances about it stuck in my mind, and when I once again came across the book The Secret, by Rhonda (or Rhoda maybe) Byrne, which espouses the theory that by 'asking' the universe for things you want, you can get them (that is of course a gross oversimplification, but for the love of all that's good, don't give that woman any more money. There was also a film, which can surely be downloaded somewhere) the two kind of combined in the melting pot of my brain.
So, my proposal is this. Ponder it if you will. What if all of this is reenforcement for the subconscious? Prayer, and asking the universe, and all the similar things (Self help books seem to have a lot of out-loud exclamations and declarations, which fits the bill) are all ways of telling your subconscious that this is what you want, or what you want to do. Your subconscious, savvy as it is, then tries to put you in a better position to achieve those things.
It's definitely a theory with some holes, but what do you think?
I would go on to say that its not even telling the subconcious, following my point the original post- asking the divine, your ultimate care giver (as it were) for what it is you want, you are outwardly and inwardly reinforcing a mindset of what it is you want. Now this creates two things-
ReplyDelete1- The idea that you believe in your God, that he/she/it will not fail you and therefore you believe in what it is you want more strongly than ever, and this can help you to achieve it.
2- on the contrary it could allow others to become complacent and believe they need to nothing for they are being looked after.
I would propose that more often than not, once you have reinforced to yourself and to your God what it is you most want, it is in your mind more often, and therefore you find yourself more inclined to reach for it with all you have...