By Morris Dean
You said that talking with God is one-way1:
we can talk "to" God but can't talk "with" Him.
You told us that God is imaginary
and we are really talking to ourselves—
or "with," I suppose, if we should answer.
What, then, do you say about fulfilled prayers?
The people you surveyed2 told you their prayers
get strength, health, safety sent their way,
wisdom and guidance for choosing, answers
to questions—all provided, they say, by Him.
I say: answers come from within ourselves,
from our resourceful imaginations.
In that case, how are we to imagine
that man was guided to a job if prayer
wasn't answered by God, outside himself?
He said he was already in the way
of trusting guidance was coming from Him,
so he praised God when a seeming answer
came; he rathered not believe the answer
came from chance and his imagination.
Power he can't own is his he gives to Him.
He makes allowances to invest prayer
with reliability and adopts ways
to explain their shortcomings to himself.
A common explanation to oneself
is to accept that sometimes God's answer
is to withhold response, send you away.
But in point of fact, imagination
is simply unpredictable; prayer
racks up hits no better than that with Him.
"The Kingdom of God is within yourself,"
Luke3 said Jesus said? Yes, which means answers
well up from our unconscious—that's their way.
How can we tap our imagination?
Two examples of other ways than prayer:
automatic writing works well for him
who's verbal; auto-suggestion for her
who's comfortable with affirming self.
For people lacking in confidence, prayer
invests a "higher" power who can answer
questions and provide gifts they imagine
they couldn't hatch alone in any way.
Ask Him if you want, but if an answer
comes, it comes from self's imagination—
your prayer diverts inner resources your way.
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
- Thor's Day: Talking to God: Imaginary friend in sestina, June 13
- Thor's Day: How does belief in prayer affect how you regard the here and now? [a survey], June 6
- "The Kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21
| Please comment |
I read this, Morris, but don't have the gift to answer you. Prayer comforts me.
ReplyDeleteHey, Patsy, thanks for reading my posts and doing the best you can trying to understand them. I appreciate my readers, whether themselves articulate or not. If prayer comforts you, then keep it up, and all power to you. I myself am comforted by many things myself, including talking to Siegfried, breathing deeply and holding it a few seconds before exhaling, closing my eyes and "emptying" my mind, sitting quietly in a light shade in gentle wind, watching birds or other small animals (including frogs, rabbits, squirrels),....
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