Kirstin Timmons: Reflection on phenomenology of prayer pp. 1-29

 I personally am non-religious. I was raised in a household where my parents are both  agnostic in their beliefs and my grandparents are religious. My mother’s side is catholic and my dad’s is christian. To me I never really understood prayer. Page one already states “Perhaps the most important answer is that prayer connects us to the divine, to something beyond ourselves and beyond immediate reality,” however I find this hard to relate to. Why would prayer be that one source? Many of those I know who are even a little religious find other ways to connect to the divine without praying. For example, many of my wiccan/pagan practicing friends find their connection through ancestral guides. They find this connection through meditation and tarot as opposed to prayer. I also find the idea of it being practiced in groups quite fascinating. Though I can understand why groups may pray for a similar reason like hoping for well-being after a detrimental event, or praying for the safe travel of a passed loved ones soul to their respective after life, it makes more sense for prayer to be a personal and private practice in most instances, as it is briefly implied many believe. Page 3 states “Perhaps prayer is simply too intimate for disclosure. Perhaps it is even too intimate for a phenomenological investigation undertaken simply by and for me. Of course, such an understanding of prayer operates with the assumption that praying is primarily—or even exclusively—a private act. In contrast, most religious traditions take prayer to be at least as much a corporate activity and go so far as to build ‘houses of prayer.’” Many aspects of prayer fascinate me. For example the majority of the pages here discuss three type of prayers. Samuel’s prayer, Mary’s prayer, and Elvis’ prayer. Though it appears there is a general consensus on rules and expectations of prayer, it is meant to be a reflection and self evaluation as one connects to god making the rules seem arbitrary in the long term, especially to those who may not have such a deep or personal connection to prayer. It is of course important that everyone finds a practice they are comfortable with so I suppose the art of prayer just isn’t mine.  None of this really makes a lot of sense however it’s just how I see it from an outsider's perspective on religion as someone raised to explore and find my own religion without being influenced by my family’s practices. Even within my family practices vary. My grandmother on my dad’s side for example says grace before each meal and prays on a regular basis as it makes her feel protected, however my mother’s parents hardly pray at all with the exception of holidays and funerals, yet they still feel safe and protected by the god in which they believe. Many of my pagan friends will pray to their deities whereas others simply leave offerings as a form of communication. Prayer, while effective, isn’t always the only method of divine connection nor the only way to feel at one with the forces beyond our reality. It truly depends on the culture, the religion, and the person themselves. That being said, the phenomenology of prayer is  a fascinating one indeed as there is much to learn from those who do rely on prayer.