EP 06 Does prayer work?

Before we explore the topic of prayer, particularly non denominational (non religious) prayer, I want to say that my research into this topic has lead me to the conclusion that there is no scientific evidence that prayer has any measurable effect on the health of the person being prayed for. Prayer has been studied since at leat 1872, supported by various religious groups. All the studies on prayer that claim that there is a correlation between prayer and health improvement had problems with self selection, selection bias and other aspects that discount them from the scientific method. At the same time, there has never been any funding from the scientific community because prayer lacks biological plausibility. So it looks like we will never have scientific proof. Prayer has its place in True Spirituality, however, especially non denominational prayer. I have created a non denominational prayer group on Facebook called the Sacred Heart Prayers, which you can join by clicking this link. Make sure you answer the three questions, though, as I won't let you in unless you do. There are some rules to post that you can find in the about section. This being said, I want to explore here magical thinking and delusion. I have been watching the TV series Manifest and one of the characters, Angelina, loses her grip with reality and tips into fanaticism. In it, she believes that a baby she is looking after is her guardian angel and when she sets the baby's room on fire by accident, she does nothing to get herself and the baby into safety because she relies on the magical properties of the baby to protect them both. I am a promoter of grounded spirituality. This is not ok. Nothing, and least of all prayer, justifies taking undue risks with your life or someone else's. Nothing, and least of all prayer, justifies making bad decisions because you believe you are chosen so you won't suffer the consequences. Prayer should enhance our lives, not take from them or bypass our responsibilities. What is prayer? The Oxford dictionary defines it as a "Solemn request for help addressed to God or another deity". True Spirituality is inclusive, so my own definition of prayer does include God or other deities. I replace that by "something bigger than us". I know that a lot of people have suffered at the hands of religious people, and continue to, to this day, so I understand if some of the people who listen to the podcast do not want to hear the word God. Besides, many atrocities have been committed in the name of God. Most religions have blood on their hands. We also want to avoid tipping into superstition, which is the credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural. We don't need fancy words to pray. We don't need to repeat a specific formula. We don't need to repeat prayers three times. However, if you want to create a ritual around your prayers, feel free to do so but do it out of choice, not because you think you need to. My approach to prayer is that it can't hurt. Although having said that, I do not recommend that you ask for an outcome and I advice people not to pray when they are upset. To me, a prayer is asking for help. But if we ask for help, we also need to ask ourselves how good are we to receive help? Gracefully? Most of us are reluctant to ask for help. I want to mention here one of the spiritual teachers that has most influenced me: Abraham-Hicks. Their book Ask and it is given, separates the process in three steps: Step 1 is us asking for help, Step 2 is the Universe answering our prayer and Step 3 is us allowing the answer to come to us. Basically accepting the help. Part of this is accepting that help might look very different to what you think it will. So how do we pray? We can use a very simple phrase that says: Please help with (insert the thing you need help with). Who do you pray to? If you are not comfortable with the concept of God, you can use words such as Source, Infinite Intelligence, Life, the Universe, the Big U and whoever the fuck is in charge. Let's not get hung up on words. When should we pray? Whenever we want. And we can pray for past events, current events and even future events. Once I explain to you how energy works (in a future episode), you will understand that energy is not bound by the concepts of time and space. In the episode I shared to lived experiences of help being given after I prayed for help. From a reiki master's perspective, prayer makes sense, because we are all interconnected to all the people we know energetically. And in turn these people are connected to the ones they know. It's a bit like the internet but without computers, wifi, electricity and cables. When you send a prayer out, it's like a message sent out to this incredible web of light and the Universe locates where help is available and sends it over. It can send it to you as an idea or an impulse. However, not every prayer is useful. I don't recommend asking for an outcome, because the Universe is vastly more clever than you are. It has access to far more intelligence than you do. So it will find of a solution you might not possibly even think of. Also, if you are full of anxiety, don't pray for someone else, as you are more likely to send them negative energy than actually help them. Please make sure you rate the podcast and write a review. Share with people you know. Thank you. If you would like to receive the link to book a free fifteen minute session with me, sign up for my newsletter here.