Everything about Prayer totally explained
Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate, commonly with a sequence of words, with a
deity or spirit for the purpose of
worshipping, requesting
guidance, requesting assistance, confessing
sins, as an
act of reparation or to express one's
thoughts and emotions. The
words of the prayer may take the form of
intercession, a
hymn,
incantation or a spontaneous utterance in the person's praying words. Secularly, the term can also be used as an alternative to "
hope".
Etymology
Pray entered
Middle English as
preyen, prayen,and
preien around 1290, recorded in
The early South-English Legendary I. 112/200:
And preide is fader wel erne, in the sense of "to ask earnestly." The next recorded use in 1300 is simply "to pray." It came from the
Old French preier, "to request" (first seen in
La Séquence de Ste. Eulalie, ca. 880) In modern French
prier, "to pray," the stem-vowel is leveled under that of the stem-stressed forms,
il prie, etc. The origin of the word before this time is less certain. Compare the Italian
Pregare "to ask" or more rarely "pray for something" and Spanish
preguntar "ask." One possibility is the
Late Latin precare (as seen in
Priscian),
classical Latin precari "to entreat, pray" from Latin
precari, from
precor, from
prec-, prex "request, entreaty, prayer."
Precor was used by
Virgil,
Livy,
Cicero, and
Ovid in the
accusative.
Dative forms are also found in Livy and Aurelius Propertius. With
pro in the
ablative, it's found in Plinius Valerianus’s
physic, and Aurelius Augustinus’s
Epistulae. It also could be used for a thing. From classical times, it was used in both religious and secular senses.
Prex is recorded as far back as T. Maccius Plautus (254 B.C. – ?). Other senses of
precor include "to wish well or ill to any one," "to hail, salute," or "address one with a wish." The Latin
orare "to speak" later took over the role of
precari to mean "pray."
The Spanish form
preguntar was first recorded in
El Cantar de Mio Çid (ca. 1150)
and possibly comes from
Vulgar Latin praecontare, an alteration of the Classical Latin
percontari, perconto, percontor "interrogate" although the Spanish verb for "pray" today is (among Catholics)
rezar, which previously meant "to say" from the Latin
recitare. Among Spanish-speaking Protestants, the verb
orar is used instead, and a prayer is called
oración. The
Portuguese word
pregar "to preach," or less commonly, "to exhort," is also mentioned at times, although it's from the Latin
praedicare,
"to cry in public, proclaim," hence "to declare, state, say," in medieval Latin "to preach," and in Logic "to assert," from
præ "forth" +
dicare "to make known, proclaim." Compare the Spanish
predicar. More closely related is the Portuguese
perguntar, "to ask" and by extension "ask for."
Pray is akin to
Old English gefr[AE]ge "hearsay, report,"
fricgan, frignan, frinan to ask, inquire,
Old High German fraga question,
fragen "to ask" (in modern German, "pray" is
beten, "question"
frage),
Old Norse frett "question,"
fregna "to inquire, find out,"
Gothic fraihman "to find out by inquiry,"
Tocharian A prak- "to ask,"
Sanskrit roots,
pracch- prask-, pras "interrogation," and
prcchati "he asks"
Forms of prayer
The great spiritual traditions offer a wide variety of devotional acts. There are morning and evening prayers, graces said over meals, and reverent physical gestures. Some Christians bow their heads and fold their hands. Native Americans dance. Some Sufis whirl. Hindus chant. Orthodox Jews sway their bodies back and forth and
Muslims kneel as seen on the right. Quakers keep silent. Some pray according to standardized rituals and liturgies, while others prefer extemporaneous prayers. Still others, combine the two.
Among these methodologies are a variety of approaches to understanding prayer:
- The belief that the finite can actually communicate with the infinite;
- The belief that the infinite is interested in communicating with the finite;
- The belief that prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient;
- The belief that prayer is intended to train a person to focus on the recipient through philosophy and intellectual contemplation;
- The belief that prayer is intended to enable a person to gain a direct experience of the recipient;
- The belief that prayer is intended to affect the very fabric of reality as we perceive it;
- The belief that prayer is a catalyst for change in one's self and/or one's circumstances, or likewise those of third party beneficiaries.
- The belief that the recipient desires and appreciates prayer
The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5000 years ago. Some
anthropologists believe that the earliest intelligent modern humans practiced something that we'd recognize today as prayer.
Prayer in the legal sense
"Prayer" can also be used in the legal sense to refer to a case that the party of the prosecution brings before the court. The plaintiff's demands are known collectively as the "prayer" or "prayer for relief."
The act of worship
Praying has many different forms.
Prayer may be done privately and individually, or it may be done corporately in the presence of fellow believers. Prayer can be incorporated into a daily "thought life," in which one is in constant communication with a god. Some people pray throughout all that's happening during the day and seek guidance as the day progresses. There can be many different answers to prayer, just as there are many ways to interpret an answer to a question, if there in fact comes an answer. Some may experience audible, physical, or mental epiphanies. If indeed an answer comes, the time and place it comes is considered random.
Some outward acts that sometimes accompany prayer are: anointing with oil; ringing a bell; burning incense or paper; lighting a candle or candles; facing a specific direction (for example towards
Mecca or the East); making the
sign of the cross. One less noticeable act related to prayer is fasting.
A variety of body postures may be assumed, often with specific meaning (mainly respect or adoration) associated with them: standing; sitting; kneeling; prostrate on the floor; eyes opened; eyes closed; hands folded or clasped; hands upraised; holding hands with others; a laying on of hands and others. Prayers may be recited from memory, read from a book of prayers, or composed spontaneously as they're prayed. They may be said, chanted, or sung. They may be with musical accompaniment or not. There may be a time of outward silence while prayers are offered mentally. Often, there are prayers to fit specific occasions, such as the blessing of a meal, the birth or death of a loved one, other significant events in the life of a believer, or days of the year that have special religious significance. Details corresponding to specific traditions are outlined below.
Historical polytheistic prayer
In ancient religions of Greeks and Romans (
Ancient Greek religion,
Roman religion), ceremonial prayer was highly formulaic and
ritualized. The
Iguvine Tables contain a supplication that can be translated, "If anything was said improperly, if anything was done improperly, let it be as if it were done correctly."
The formalism and formulaic nature of these prayers led them to be written down in language that may have only been partially understood by the writer, and our texts of these prayers may in fact be garbled. Prayers in
Etruscan were used in the Roman world by
augurs and other
oracles long after Etruscan became a dead language. The
Carmen Arvale and the
Carmen Saliare are two specimens of partially preserved prayers that seem to have been unintelligible to their scribes, and whose language is full of
archaisms and difficult passages.
Roman prayers and
sacrifices were often envisioned as
legal bargains between deity and worshipper. The Roman formula was
do ut des: "I give, so that you may give in return."
Cato the Elder's treatise on
agriculture contains many examples of preserved traditional prayers; in one, a farmer addresses the unknown deity of a possibly sacred grove, and sacrifices a pig in order to placate the god or goddess of the place and beseech his or her permission to cut down some trees from the grove.
Prayer in Abrahamic religions
Prayer in the Bible
In the common
Bible of the
Abrahamic religions, various forms of prayer appear; the most common forms being
petition,
thanksgiving and
worship. The largest book in the Bible is the
Book of Psalms, 150 religious songs which are also prayers. Other well-known Biblical prayers include the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-28), the Song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-8), and the
Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).
Judaism
Orthodox Jews pray three times a day, or more on special days, such as the
Shabbat and
Jewish holidays. The
siddur is the prayerbook used by Jews the world over, containing a set order of daily prayers. Jewish prayer is usually described as having two aspects:
kavanah (intention) and
keva (the ritualistic, structured elements).
The most important Jewish prayers are the
Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") and the
Amidah ("the standing prayer").
Communal prayer is preferred over solitary prayer, and a quorum of 10 adult males (a
minyan) is considered a prerequisite for several communal prayers.
Christianity
Christian prayers are very varied. They can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text, like the Anglican
Book of Common Prayer. Probably the most common and universal prayer among Christians is the
Lord's Prayer, which according to the gospel accounts is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Some Protestant denominations choose not to recite the Lord's Prayer or other
rote prayers, to avoid "vain repetitions."
Christians pray to God (without specifying a person of the Trinity); or to the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit (or some combination of them). Some Christians (for example,
Catholics,
Orthodox) will also ask the righteous in heaven and "in Christ," such as Virgin Mary or other saints to intercede by praying on their behalf (
intercession of saints). Other formulaic closures include "through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever," and "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
It is customary among Protestants to end prayers with "In
Jesus' name, Amen" or "In the name of
Christ, Amen" However, the most commonly used closure in Christianity is simply "
Amen" (from a Hebrew adverb used as a statement of affirmation or agreement, usually translated as
so be it).
There is also the form of prayer called
hesychast which is a repetitious type of prayer for the purpose of meditation. In the Western or
Latin Rite of
Catholic Church, probably the most common is the
Rosary; In the Eastern Church (the
Eastern rites of the
Catholic Church and Orthodox Church), the
Jesus Prayer.
Roman Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as
acts of reparation which don't involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to
repair the sins of others, for example for the
repair of the sin of blasphemy performed by others.
Prevalence
Some modalities of
alternative medicine employ prayer. A
survey released in May 2004
by the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the
National Institutes of Health in the United States, found that in 2002, 43% of Americans pray for their own health, 24% pray for others' health, and 10% participate in a prayer group for their own health.
Christian Science
Christian Science teaches that prayer is a spiritualization of thought or an understanding of God and of the nature of the underlying spiritual creation. Adherents believe that this can result in healing, by bringing spiritual reality (the "
Kingdom of Heaven" in Biblical terms) into clearer focus in the human scene. The world as it appears to the senses is regarded as a distorted version of the world of spiritual ideas. Prayer can heal the distortion. Christian Scientists believe that prayer doesn't change the spiritual creation but gives a clearer view of it, and the result appears in the human scene as healing: the human picture adjusts to coincide more nearly with the divine reality. Prayer works through
love: the recognition of God's creation as spiritual, intact and inherently lovable.
Islam
Muslims pray a brief ritualistic prayer called
salat or
salah in
Arabic, facing the
Kaaba in
Mecca, five times a day. There is the "call for prayer" (
adhan or
azaan), where the
muezzin calls for all the followers to stand together for the prayer . There are also many standard
duas or supplications, also in
Arabic, to be recited at various times,
for example for one's parents, after salah, before eating. Muslims may also say
dua in their own words and languages for any issue they wish to communicate with God in the hope that God will answer their prayers.
» See also: Dua
Bahá'í
Bahá'u'lláh, the
Báb, and
`Abdu'l-Bahá have revealed many prayers for general use, and some for specific occasions, including for unity, detachment, spiritual upliftment, and healing among others.
Bahá'ís are also required to recite each day one of three
obligatory prayers revealed by
Bahá'u'lláh. The believers have been enjoined to face in the direction of the
Qiblih when reciting their Obligatory Prayer. The longest obligatory prayer may be recited at any time during the day; another, of medium length, is recited once in the morning, once at midday, and once in the evening; and the shortest can be recited anytime between noon and sunset. This is the text of the short prayer:
I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Bahá'ís also read from and meditate on the scriptures every morning and evening.
Prayer in Neopaganism
Many modern
Neopagans pray to various gods. The most commonly worshiped and prayed to gods are those of Pre-Christian Europe, such as
Celtic,
Norse or
Graeco-Roman gods. Prayer can vary from sect to sect, and with some (such as Wicca) prayer may also be associated with ritual
magick.
Prayer in Eastern religions
In contrast with
Western religion,
Eastern religion for the most part discards
worship and places devotional emphasis on the practice of
meditation alongside scriptural study. Consequently, prayer is seen as a form of meditation or an adjunct practice to meditation.
Buddhism
In certain Buddhist sects, prayer accompanies meditation.
Buddhism for the most part sees prayer as a secondary, supportive practice to
meditation and scriptural study.
Gautama Buddha claimed that human beings possess the capacity and potential to be liberated, or
enlightened, through
contemplation, leading to insight. Prayer is seen mainly as a powerful psycho-physical practice that can enhance meditation.
In the earliest Buddhist tradition, the Theravada, and in the later Mahayana tradition of Zen (or Chán), prayer plays only an ancillary role. It is largely a ritual expression of wishes for success in the practice and in helping all beings. However it can also be a way of expressing respect and appreciation to the individual person of the Buddha, who is said to still exist though in a higher dimension.
The Tibetan Buddhism tradition emphasizes an instructive and devotional relationship to a guru; this may involve devotional practices similar to prayer. It also posits the existence of various deities. But how practitioners relate to them will depend upon the 'level' at which they're practicing. At one level, one may pray to a deity for protection or assistance, taking a more subordinate role. At another level, one may invoke the deity, on a more equal footing. And at a higher level one may deliberately cultivate the idea that one has 'become' the deity, whilst remaining aware that its ultimate nature is shunyata.
Pure Land Buddhism emphasizes the recitation of prayer-like mantras by devotees. On one level it's said that reciting these mantras can ensure rebirth into a spiritual 'pure land' after death, where one may work further towards one's enlightenment with greater ease. On another, the practice is a form of meditation aimed at achieving realization.
But beyond all these practices the Buddha emphasized the primacy of individual practice and experience. He said that supplication to gods or deities wasn't necessary. Nevertheless, today many lay people in East Asian countries pray to the Buddha in ways that resemble Western prayer - asking for intervention and offering devotion.
Hinduism
Hinduism has incorporated many kinds of prayer (Sanskrit: prārthanā), from fire-based rituals to philosophical musings. While chanting involves 'by dictum' recitation of timeless verses or verses with timings and notations, dhyanam involves deep meditation (however short or long) on the preferred deity/God. Again the object to which prayers are offered could be a persons referred as devtas, trinity or incarnation of either devtas or trinity or simply plain formless meditation as practiced by the ancient sages. All of these are directed to fulfilling personal needs or deep spiritual enlightenment. Ritual invocation was part and parcel of the Vedic religion and as such permeated their sacred texts. Indeed, the highest sacred texts of the Hindus, the Vedas, are a large collection of mantras and prayer rituals. Classical Hinduism came to focus on extolling a single supreme force, Brahman, that's made manifest in several lower forms as the familiar gods of the Hindu pantheon. Hindus in India have numerous devotional movements. Hindus may pray to the highest absolute God Brahman, or more commonly to Its three manifestations namely creator god called Brahma, preserver god called Vishnu and destroyer god (so that the creation cycle can start afresh) Shiva, and at the next level to Vishnu's avatars (earthly appearances) Rama and Krishna or to many other male or female deities.Typically, Hindus pray with their hands (the palms) joined together. The hand gesture is similar to the popular Indian greeting namaste.
Jainism
Although Jains believe that no spirit or divine being can assist them on their path, they do hold some influence, and on special occasions, Jains will pray for right knowledge to the twenty-four Tirthankaras (saintly teachers) or sometimes to Hindu deities such as Ganesha.
Shinto
The practices involved in Shinto prayer are heavily influenced by Buddhism; Japanese Buddhism has also been strongly influenced by Shinto in turn. The most common and basic form of devotion involves throwing a coin, or several, into a collection box, ringing a bell, clapping one's hands, and contemplating one's wish or prayer silently. The bell and hand clapping are meant to wake up or attract the attention of the kami of the shrine, so that one's prayer may be heard.
Shinto prayers quite frequently consist of wishes or favors asked of the kami, rather than lengthy praises or devotions. Unlike in certain other faiths, it isn't considered irregular or inappropriate to ask favors of the kami in this way, and indeed many shrines are associated with particular favors, such as success on exams.
In addition, one may write one's wish on a small wooden tablet, called an ema, and leave it hanging at the shrine, where the kami can read it. If the wish is granted, one may return to the shrine to leave another ema as an act of thanksgiving.
Prayer in animist traditions
Although prayer in its literal sense isn't used in animism, communication with the spirit world is vital to the animist way of life. This is usually accomplished through a shaman who, through a trance, gains access to the spirit world and then shows the spirits' thoughts to the people. Other ways to receive messages from the spirits include using astrology or contemplating fortune tellers and healers.
Approaches to prayer
Direct petitions to God
From Biblical times to today, the most common form of prayer is to directly appeal to God to grant one's requests. This in many ways is the simplest form of prayer. Some have termed this the social approach to prayer. In this view, a person directly enters into God's rest, and asks for their needs to be fulfilled. God listens to the prayer, and may or may not choose to answer in the way one asks of Him. This is the primary approach to prayer found in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, most of the Church writings, and in rabbinic literature such as the Talmud.
The educational approach
In this view, prayer isn't a conversation. Rather, it's meant to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, but not to influence. Among Jews, this has been the approach of Rabbenu Bachya, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, Joseph Albo, Samson Raphael Hirsch, and Joseph B. Soloveitchik. This view is expressed by Rabbi Nosson Scherman in the overview to the Artscroll Siddur (p. XIII); note that Scherman goes on to also affirm the Kabbalistic view (see below).
The Kabbalistic view of prayer
Adherents of Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism) base their prayers on those found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer text. However, they add to these prayers a number of kavanot, mystical statements of intention. Adherents of kabbalah reject both the rationalist and social approach to prayer. Instead, their approach ascribes a higher meaning to the act of prayer; Prayer affects the very fabric of reality itself, restructuring and repairing the universe in a real fashion. For these Kabbalists, every prayer, every word of every prayer, and indeed, even every letter of every word of every prayer, has a precise meaning and a precise effect.
In Kabbalah and related mystical belief systems, adherents claim intimate knowledge about the way in which the divine relates to us and the physical universe in which we live. For people with this view, prayers can literally affect the mystical forces of the universe and repair the fabric of creation.
Among Jews, this approach has been taken by the Chassidei Ashkenaz (German pietists of the Middle-Ages), the Arizal's Kabbalist tradition, Ramchal, most of Hassidism, the Vilna Gaon and Jacob Emden.
The rationalist approach
In this view, ultimate goal of prayer is to help train a person to focus on divinity through philosophy and intellectual contemplation. This approach was taken by the Jewish scholar and philosopher Maimonides and the other medieval rationalists; it became popular in Jewish, Christian and Islamic intellectual circles, but never became the most popular understanding of prayer among the laity in any of these faiths. In all three of these faiths today, a significant minority of people still hold to this approach.
The experiential approach
In this approach, the purpose of prayer is to enable the person praying to gain a direct experience of the recipient of the prayer (or as close to direct as a specific theology permits). This approach is very significant in Christianity and widespread in Judaism (although less popular theologically). In Eastern Orthodoxy, this approach is known as hesychasm. It is also widespread in Sufi Islam, and in some forms of mysticism. It has some similarities with the rationalist approach, since it can also involve contemplation, although the contemplation isn't generally viewed as being as rational or intellectual. It also has some similarities with the Kabbalistic view, but it lacks the Kabbalistic emphasis on the importance of individual words and letters.
Efficacy of prayer
In 1872, Francis Galton conducted a famous statistical experiment to determine whether or not prayer had a physical effect on the external environment. Galton hypothesized that if prayer was effective, members of the British Royal family would live longer, given that thousands prayed for their wellbeing every Sunday. He therefore compared longevity in the British Royal family with that of the general population, and found no difference. While the experiment was probably intended to satirize, and suffered from a number of confounders, it set the precedent for a number of different studies, the results of which are contradictory.
Two studies claimed that patients who are being prayed for recover more quickly or more frequently although critics have claimed that the methodology of such studies are flawed, and the perceived effect disappears when controls are tightened. One such study, with a double-blind design and about 500 subjects per group, suggested that intercessory prayer by born again Christians had a statistically significant positive effect on a coronary care unit population. Critics contend that there were severe methodological problems with this study. Another such study was reported by Harris et al. Critics also claim Byrd's 1988 study wasn't fully double-blinded, and that in the Harris study, patients actually had a longer hospital stay in the prayer group, if one discounts the patients in both groups who left before prayers began, although the Harris study did demonstrate the prayed for patients on average received lower course scores (indicating better recovery).
One of the largest randomized, blind clinical trials was a remote retroactive intercessory prayer study conducted in Israel by Leibovici. This study used 3393 patient records from 1990-96, and blindly assigned some of these to an intercessory prayer group. The prayer group had shorter hospital stays and duration of fever.
Several studies of prayer effectiveness have yielded null results. A 2001 double-blind study of the Mayo Clinic found no significant difference in the recovery rates between people who were (unbeknownst to them) assigned to a group that prayed for them and those who were not. Similarly, the MANTRA study conducted by Duke University found no differences in outcome of cardiac procedures as a result of prayer. In another similar study published in the American Heart Journal in 2006, Christian intercessory prayer when reading a scripted prayer was found to have no effect on the recovery of heart surgery patients; however, the study found patients who had knowledge of receiving prayer had slightly higher instances of complications than those who didn't know if they were being prayed for or those who didn't receive prayer.
Many believe that prayer can aid in recovery, not due to divine influence but due to psychological and physical benefits. It has also been suggested that if a person knows that he or she's being prayed for it can be uplifting and increase morale, thus aiding recovery. (See Subject-expectancy effect.) Many studies have suggested that prayer can reduce physical stress, regardless of the god or gods a person prays to, and this may be true for many worldly reasons. According to a study by Centra State Hospital, "the psychological benefits of prayer may help reduce stress and anxiety, promote a more positive outlook, and strengthen the will to live." Other practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and Meditation may also have a positive impact on physical and psychological health.
Others feel that the concept of conducting prayer experiments reflects a misunderstanding of the purpose of prayer. The previously mentioned 2006 study published in the American Heart Journal indicated that some of the intercessors who took part in it complained about the scripted nature of the prayers that were imposed to them,
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