Phenomenology of Prayer

12/10/15

 

In The Phenomenology of Prayer, it asks the question, "what should we pray for?" I am not a religious person myself, but I can understand the idea of praying and the effect it has on so many people. The prayer that opens people up to the sacred is an imitation of the divine in its action of kenosis or self-emptying. The sense of self opening and/or self emptying  can be put in terms of praying for one another and for ourselves. When you pray for someone else, you are not competing against the divine, but rather hoping that good comes to someone else. The idea of praying for our own needs to be met can sometimes be looked at as controversial. However, to not pray for our own needs would seem as if we are of less worth than the other people we are praying for; that our own sufferings are not as notable as others. Prayer is related to goodness in that, one can pray for goods as long as it is also a means to do good. "All goods, all fulfillments of needs, should be prayed for as a means to become good". Instead of just praying to possess goods, it is important to become good.