this post was submitted on 29 May 2024
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AskBeehaw
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I'm an atheist, but I also pray to a vague "higher power" every morning. My sense is that the prayer helps whether I believe or not.
Check out Chaos Magick perhaps. The centerpiece is: what you believe in doesn't matter, belief itself is the power. It encourages changing your belief structures so it doesn't become rote dogma. Fun to play with at any rate; pray to Minerva, sink an offering for Cthulhu, get into established religion systems and then switch for another.
Fascinating. I do too, in a way - I find it helps to think about what help I need, in a way that is quite prayer-like (I believe ). For me, it's a way of reminding myself that I don't have to fix everything myself, not even in my own life. Sometimes good things happen for no reason.
The interesting (to me) thing is that as soon as I've read this, my mind said "duck programming".
(For the blissfully uninitiated, duck programming is when a software developer explains a problem to a rubber duck. The solution will often present itself during the explanation after having been hiding in plain sight for hours up to this point.)
Do.you think atheistic prayers work in a similar way?
The human mind sure is a fascinating thing.
Yes, I believe that's a part of it. Just the act of formulating "this is a problem that I don't know how to solve, please help" sometimes starts some kind of problem solving of my own.
But another thing that "atheistic prayer" does for me is that if/when that thing happens, I'm more likely to notice it. And a problem dissolving by itself, or due to someone helping me, is something I really want to notice.
I start each day by thinking of three things for which I'm grateful. I suspect it has a similar effect.
It doesn't have to be anything profound. Examples include: "we had a nice time picking fruit over the weekend," "the weather isn't going to be as warm as it was yesterday," "I had a nice conversation with the other day." But big stuff also gets in there when warranted.