Prayer

I've never been one to practice prayer on a regular basis, mainly because I'm not a religious person and really don't see the point to it. However, I would never belittle or look down upon someone for praying. I know that for many people, prayer is a part of the foundation of their lives and it helps them push forward in this crazy world. I just don't feel that it's my place to criticize them for something that helps bring peace to their minds and spirits. I have many friends who actively pray, and most of them say that it strengthens their spirit and faith, and it helps them become closer to god in the way that they understand him. Prayer, however, just isn't for me, and that's ok as well. I see life more through a human centered perspective and for me personally, prayer doesn't particularly have much of an influence in my life. I do partake in meditation from time to time, but that's different from prayer because meditation is focused on strengthening your understanding of yourself, while the focus of prayer is to strengthen one's bond with a higher power. While I don't pray, I can understand and appreciate how others utilize it to make give themselves comfort. To many people, the power of prayer is very real, and I think that because of that belief in it's power, it does have some real influence in a way. Having grown up in a religious community, I was taught to pray from a very young age. I was taught that if I asked god to help me with whatever I was going through, he would help me in one way or another. While now I think that is very unlikely, I should say that it can't scientifically be proven that prayer doesn't work, since it can't be scientifically proven that that type of god doesn't exist. Like it or not, religion will always be a part of our world and along with that, so too will prayer.