Atheist prayers.

[Android]

I'm an agnostic that lives as an atheist and I pray many times a day on average.

This is from my journal and describes what my prayers are like. I often use prayer beads, but if something in the environment will work as a substitute I tend to use that:
"I pick pebbles out of the sand and say a prayer with each one as I throw them into the fire. The prayers go something like, "Thank you for your warmth, Fire." Pebble in the fire. "Thank you for your glow, Moon." Pebble. "Thank you for everything Mr Sandpiper who is wiser than meets the eye." Pebble. "Thank you Sand for sliding through my toes." Pebble. Or more often like this, "I wish the best for Sam." Pebble. "I wish the best for Mom and Dad." Pebble. "I wish for Sandy to get healthy and live forever." Pebble."

I find the ritual of prayer to be very uplifting and the habit forming practice of praying for people and things helps ground me quite often. I firmly believe that it makes me a much better person.

I was pretty much just curious if any other folks here do something similar?

[NoID10ts]

I don't personally do this, but I would imagine it would have some psychological benefits. People from all time periods and from all over the world have engaged in prayers and meditations of one kind or another. The fact that they all worship radically different gods and hold radically different beliefs doesn't seem to even matter.

[Tunesimah]

Dear God: I pray that there is no God.

On a semi-related note, I make it a point to never pray for anything physical or useful. I only pray for God to somehow make me a better person... which I guess is a physical prayer too... oh crap!

Actually to be honest, I don't really believe in Prayer... I just really like telling God what I think.

*I am not an Atheist, and profess to be a Christian... but more of a Christian-Diest...

[Agent Intellect]

I agree with Noddy. There is nothing wrong with a prayer, particularly as a humbling experience - even if all it does is make one think of everything that is bigger then them; a universe full of mystery and unending variety, the past that has happened in just such a way that one is able to come into existence, the self awareness of ones own mind that allows us to perceive the vastness and wonder of our universe with conscious thought, the complexity of nature and the elegance of such a simple, yet chaotic balance of evolution, and our unbelievably limited perspective of existence. The idea of having to pray to a creator seems to take away from the incredible, awe inspiring magnificence and grandeur of the cosmos.

[Adymus]

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/05/23-End%20of%20Month/alanis.jpg
Thank you THANK YOU silence!

[Vrecknidj]

...important stuff...
I find the ritual of prayer to be very uplifting and the habit forming practice of praying for people and things helps ground me quite often. I firmly believe that it makes me a much better person.

I was pretty much just curious if any other folks here do something similar?I think what you're doing is good. I have a personal prayer life, am perfectly willing to endure the jabs by my atheist and agnostic friends (all of whom are aware that my own competence in logical deduction rivals or exceeds their own so they don't give me any crap because they know my own views aren't based on the same kinds of views as so many other prayerful people who, frankly, seem to them like lunatics), and am happy with my own relationship to "the other side" whatever that happens to be.

I, for one, would encourage you to stick with what is fulfilling for you.

Dave

[Carnap]

Very funny.

I'd like to take a brain scan of people who actually pray and you'd see the chemical change, the areas of the brain that light up with this type of concentration.

If you are being serious, well..

[Carnap]

And in case you didn't catch it, the bastard was making fun of one of my posts.

What the hell is wrong with some of you people? This is the second time ! Once I mentioned I liked to eat healthy and someone started a thread making fun of my eating habits.

Lame.

[NoID10ts]

And in case you didn't catch it, the bastard was making fun of one of my posts.

What the hell is wrong with some of you people? This is the second time ! Once I mentioned I liked to eat healthy and someone started a thread making fun of my eating habits.

Lame.
Which post of yours are they making fun of? For my part, my answer was serious, I didn't know this was intended to be an attack on you.

[ifelloverboard]

Yes, the parts of the brain that light up are the same as when a person is having a normal conversation with a friend.

Instead of praying, I just talk to a real person that actually interacts.

God is dead? I am God.

EDIT: Affirmations and other psychological phenom can be accounted for without praying. I'm not taking that away from people who do pray. Good for you. I'm suggesting that prayer is not necessary for those who don't believe in magic shows.

[Android]

I'm not sure if you, Carnap, were saying that I was making fun of you or someone else was.. but if that's the case, I can assure you that you're mistaken.

Prayer for me is a means of developing psychological habits. I decided to start when looking at religion as an outsider as an experiment to try to understand what I was seeing better. By routinely wishing people good will, both enemies and friends, I've noticed that my actions reflect those wishes without mental effort or energy. Also, by counting my blessings and thanking people and things (even those that are inanimate and non-sentient) that I feel happier in and more attached to the world around me, which has had a great effect on my life considering how naturally detached I tend to be. I don't believe in "magic shows" as Ifelloverboard put it.. there isn't a mystical or spiritual quality to my prayers. Prayer for me is a grounding exercise very similar to meditation. On rare occasions, I do fall into a bit of solipsistic disillusionment (normally drug related to be honest) where I feel that my prayers are impacting the world around me in a more real sense.. but at times of such disillusionment that's the least of my problems.