Prayer

Have no science to cite, no studies, no credible references, no ancient scripture to analyze, and no good reason to believe it's even true, but I do. Prayer- also known as "hope", "gratitude", and "healing"- is an infinite and universal human substance, a force for good.

Prayer is an energy within its own dimension, neither created nor destroyed, but rather an invisible, living reservoir to add to and draw from as needed. This prayer energy is experienced inwardly, so no two people can feel exactly the same. It manifests uniquely, each human, each time, the energy is always new.

For some, prayer simply gives a deep thanks, asking for nothing more than the enormous bounty of life on earth, the years and decades passing, this profound, daily priviledge of consciousness, the light and face of our individual selves. 

For others, prayer is solitude. Purity of aloneness, sanctity of solitary communion with the divine, the quieting of nervous noise within and without, only a heart's beat, and metered song of breath repeating.

Prayer may be a million beaming children in Tibet, joining together their focused thought on peace.

Prayer may be the elderly shut-in, still hopeful about tomorrow, gazing at the mantle full of family pictures, her only remaining companions, and a beloved cat, who also prays with her. 

Prayer may be the specific medicine that heals your lifelong beliefs and painful worries, as an elixir of relief.

Don't know why I pray, still, after all these years of not knowing why, but it seems to be a positive instinct, a way to reconnect with undefined channels of forgiveness.

My own imperfect existance always in a stumble of understanding, prayer keeps the balance of our mortal ways, the habits of circumstance, the consequence of deliverance from desire and fear, the Great Wheel of sensation ever-turning, even in dreams, even in subconscious prayer.

The same energy that propels us through our prayerful days also whirls the countless galaxies into a cosmic mosaic of incomprehensible distances. Our  microscopic minds can only grasp a particle or two of this vastness, as with the curious phenomenon of prayer, most of it remains forever in blessed mystery.