Is there power in prayer? Well, if someone were religiously inclined, she would probably say, “of course!” But it’s not that simple to me. I am not religiously inclined. As a matter of fact, I don’t like religion of any kind. Religions are limiting in their viewpoints. Therefore, I don’t really have much to do with organized religions.
However, I do pray. And I do so as my ancestors did: With a rosary and in Spanish. It’s how I start every day: With one decade of a rosary (which equals ten (10) Hail Marys), and an Our Father. Once I’ve finished, I simply sit quietly and let my mind wander or empty without conscious effort. I have no plan nor do I have a “prayer intention,” I just pray as I do and see what emerges.
And lately, things are emerging. Over the years, I’ve worked in several different contexts. Some people know me as a writer, some people know me as a software developer, and some people know me as a substance abuse counselor. I’m basically the professional version of Kevin, the main personality in the movie “Split.” It’s been challenging wearing such different hats and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this split-professional-personality of mine isn’t frustrating at times. Because I’ve never really settled on a single career, I become restless in any gig and I’m always wondering, “What’s next?”
But lately, in prayer, thoughts emerge that have clued me into the thread that ties everything that I do. What it comes down to is that I’m always abstracting and representing life in many different ways. Now, because prayer itself is an abstract concept, I can’t say that what’s emerged are clear messages. But what I can say is that as I pray and allow my mind to wander, things I’ve read or tasks I’m completing pop into my head. For example, two (2) of the books I’m reading now, one on cartooning and the other on data sampling techniques are disparate in both form and message. However, I boght both of them after praying because I remembered an idea I have for a new cartoon and I remembered something that I had to do at work involving data. So, I bought the books.
Although they’re quite different, they present similar messages. For example, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, presents, “Words are totally abstract icons that bear no resemblance to the real McCoy.” Data Science, by John Kelleher and Brendan Tierney, states, “Data are generated through a process of abstraction…data are never an objective description of the world” In order to understand comics and data, the books urge their reader to first understand abstraction and representation. The thing is, had the clues not emerged during prayer, I would never have found these books.
So, although I can’t say that what I’ve learned through prayer comes close to the transformative experience that Saul had on the road to Damascus, I can say that praying has led to very pragmatic things that have me make sense of my world. Therefore, to me and for me, there is very real power in prayer.
