There was an Irish Wake beneath my feet in the early 1950's- I did not attend. Maybe city codes have eliminated this practice. Some still bury small pets in the garden- Velveeta boxes wrapped in foil work well for birds and small reptiles and I suggested my neighbor bury her small dog in a covered roasting pan but think she faltered. Statues of St. Joseph are now buried in the garden to speed a home sale! //The emphasis was on the Catechism, Sacraments and the Mass for Catholics of my generation- the Bible was given a course of its own as "literature" in college. Since we were ill-prepared for real life- lol- we learned to pray on our own as time went by and the design seems personal- ranging from acceptance to challege- and is undoubtedly influenced by our awareness of other cultures/practices. The mystery remains as to whom I am praying to though prayers have been answered or rejected- I haven't kept a tally.
On Sep 10, 3:33 pm, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote: > We are not all from the same culture and I think that each culture, > even within the same umbrella religion, can have their own treatment > of prayer. I was taught as a child to say the words of traditional > prayers and not much more. Adding the practice of meditation and > contemplation to those words brought feeling to them for me. The more > I read about the historical and cultural use of prayer, the clearer it > became to me that the ideas and feelings behind the words make all the > difference in effecting internal change for us. The Navajo tribe has > a practice of prayer that involves feeling as if the desired were > true. There prayer for rain involves a submersion of feeling that it > is now raining. Some Gnostic and Essene Christian traditions present > the same idea of prayer. Certainly, the ancient Egyptian Hermetic > practices were similar. Many Buddhist and Islamic and Jewish > traditions as well. It can be confusing because there are so many > different cultural practices within the same "religion." I was > surprised to find, as a kid, that Puerto Rican Catholics insisted on > constant prayer for three days near the body of someone who died. As > an Irish Catholic, I did not hear of it. Here in the US, Catholic > children are not given bible study, Francis tells me this is different > in other parts of the world. Given all the different traditions, I am > not surprised at the varied ideas on prayer. > > On Sep 10, 3:42 pm, Simon Ewins <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > 2009/9/10 ornamentalmind <[email protected]>: > > > > Not embracing an anthropomorphic ‘god’, I find it difficult to > > > participate in this conference about prayer. And I and I know others > > > here hold that intentional contemplation/meditation etc. can and does > > > produce positive result(s). > > > I would be surprised if it didn't. Unless you are suicidal I should > > think that introspection is always a good thing. > > > I am puzzled though. > > > Are people calling that prayer now? When did the word get hi-jacked? > > > I have been under the impression for a number of decades that prayer > > involves beseeching, praising, supplication and a deity or spirit > > being.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
