The wonder of prayer.

Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered.

George Meredith

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of

Tennyson

Consider the familiar phrase, "the power of prayer." The term "prayer" can, of course, mean different things in different contexts to different people. Prayer can serve as a cure or a curse, as a sincere intercession or a pompous put-down. It can wax garrulous and rambling or remain entirely non-verbal. Although exaggerated from time to time, the power of prayer can nonetheless play an extremely important role in our private and public lives. In this article I explore some of the "mechanisms" and applications of prayer.

Kime

From the annals of Japanese martial arts comes an instructive story:

The finest archers in the land assembled to compete for a prize. Their target consisted of paper koi hoisted on a pole, with the eye of the fish as the bull' s-eye. Because the paper koi fluttered in the wind the bull' s-eye proved almost impossible to hit.

After the contest, an interviewer asked the archers what they saw when they aimed their arrows. All but one gave a similar answer. "I saw a brightly colored paper fish with an eye painted on it, flapping from a pole." But the winner, the only one to hit the bull's-eye, answered, "An eye."

For that archer, at the moment of his shot, there existed nothing else in the universe - no paper fish, no pole, no wind. Only the eye. Martial artists call this concentration of the totality of one's powers into a single, laser-beam focus "kime" (KEE-meh).

A personal prayer may have kline. Regardless of what other factors may pertain, kime can produce impressive results. We could refer to this aspect of prayer as auto-suggestion or autohypnosis, if we prefer to view this phenomenon in a psychological context. Dr. James Braid, regarded as the "father of modern hypnosis," had originally suggested the term monoideism, because of his considered opinion that hypnosis derives its effectiveness from the fact that a good "subject" can focus entirely on a single thought of a carefully prepared suggestion. Hypnotherapists typically instruct their clients in the techniques of autohypnosis. Some would say, I among them, that all hypnosis entails self-hypnosis. In a petitionary prayer, when one's entire consciousness focuses to the point of kime, considerable power comes to bear. A "higher power" - that I suggest abides within each of us - takes charge.

Even prayers originally composed with erroneous assumptions may receive an answer of sorts. Consider the following slightly autobiographical tale:

Aram ben Bosra and the Golden Bowl

A Semantic Parable

Many years had Aram ben Bosrah prayed to the Lord God for the wisdom of Solomon. Fervent his petitions, heartfelt his supplications, but alas, empty his answer. Desperately he desired to believe, yet ever found himself no wiser.

One night it came to pass that anger gripped his heart, despair filled his soul, and bitter tears brimmed his eyes.

"There is no God!" he cried. "Else he hates me and deems me unworthy of the gift of wisdom."

A gentle hush of air lifted the flap of his tent and revealed a soft light without.

"Aram, come out," called a voice from the light.

With fear and trembling Aram walked toward the light.

"I charge thee, Who or what art thou?"

"Call me Sophia, sent by the Lord God in response to your supplication."

"Do I then dare hope that the Lord God will grant the request of his humble servant?"

"Not so, thou foolish mortal. To thee doth the Lord God say cease forthwith thy unseemly begging. Not even the Almighty can grant nonsense. Thinkest thou of wisdom as a thing that one can bestow as if presenting a jug of wine or a loaf of bread?

"Wherefore wouldst thou ask for an ear of corn when thou already doth possess the seed to plant and harvest vast plains?

"The Lord God hath bestowed upon thee the golden bowl; yea, that of which Ecclesiastes hath written, a miraculous instrument composed of nine billion neurons with potential connections that outnumber all the sands of all the seas of all the world; yea, greater than the atoms of the universe do they number.

"Learn from thy cousin Abou ben Adam (may his tribe increase!). Learn from the parable of the slothful servant who buried his one talent, and it did earn no interest. Ponder it well, for it speaks of thee.

"Thou hast wasted thine efforts in unbecoming begging, when thou couldst have better served the Lord God and thyself by using thy golden bowl in study, hard thinking, meditation, and service.

"Thou sluggard! Beg not for that which thou hast the wherewithal to achieve.

"Wouldst thou become wise?

"Live to the fullest.

"Love without limit.

"Learn without ceasing.

"And work!

"Attend each day to thy golden bowl. Polish it to brilliance. Each day attempt to fill it, though thou canst never, for it can contain universes.

"Now depart from me, and mayest thou wax in wisdom."

And Aram ben Bosrah fell prostrate in shame, but also in joy and gratitude, for he felt enlightened for the first time.

He knew now that he must answer his own prayer.

We have come at last to understand that "mind" does not exist entirely separate from "body." At one time people commonly thought that the body served essentially as a means of transportation for the mind. Today we realize that just as a sound body helps to develop a sound mind, so a healthy mind can have a beneficial effect on the body. We have become more accustomed to think of a "bodymind."

Therapists have long worked with what we once called hysterical or psychosomatic disorders. Today we more often use the term psychogenic. The many manifestations of such pathologies include the spectrum of voice disorders, from harsh quality to complete loss of voice, partial paralysis of anti-gravity muscles, eating disorders, and others. We know now that people experiencing severe emotional stress prove much more susceptible to cold viruses. We know of the reactivity of the largest organ, the skin, to emotional trauma. You may have noted that chronically negative thinkers often have chronic illnesses.

It ought not surprise us, therefore, that positive input, whether we call it prayer or auto-suggestion, can often alleviate if not cure "physical" disorders. This may seem obvious, yet those who fail to use this powerful self-healing approach overlook a basic dynamic, one available to all of us. It does, of course, require time and discipline - as does almost anything worthwhile.

Prayer

Prayer - or in this case you may prefer to call it meditation - need not occur in the form of a petition. It may consist of nothing more, and nothing less, than simply sitting, whether in a lotus position or in a chair, and contemplating, focusing on a single thought, gazing inward, watching birds, the fish in your aquarium, your blazing fire, or meditating on a sacred icon.

Prayer can take the form of movement. The flowing motions of t'ai chi, for example, constitute a moving meditation. Those who have practiced it can testify to the benefits they receive in terms of health, balance, and serenity. Paul advised, "Pray without ceasing." I don't pretend to know for certain what he meant by this, but I remember that when I heard this advice as a child it sounded rather unrealistic to me. How could you possibly get anything done if you did nothing but pray all day? Much later in life I learned of an exceedingly demanding form of moving meditation in which one engages in every activity with full awareness, kime, investing every movement with excellence, with quality. T'ai chi gives us merely one example. Washing the car? Do it with kime and quality. Cooking? Do it with kime and quality. Teaching? Invest it with kime and quality. Walking? Dancing? Kime and quality.

Public Prayer

Not all prayer occurs in private, of course. Public prayer, as in a church service, serves a vital need. Does it "work?" In many cases, without doubt. For example, a single mother about to face eviction for non-payment of rent prayed for financial assistance until such time as she could find a better job. One person in the group arranged anonymously that she receive a given amount of cash for as long as necessary. Public prayer alerts caring people to the needs of the community. The efficacy of such prayers remains beyond question.

On the other hand, some prayers request a change in the weather, or a victory for a certain team or party. I leave it to you to judge the efficacy of such petitions.

Psicotherapy

We have already discussed the role of private prayer in the realm of self-healing. What of healing others, whether in group prayer or in private?

My experiences in the realm of psi lead me to acknowledge the possibility that beneficent, loving, healing thoughts or images directed toward others can help. (Yes, I do think of this as a linear transmission, direct from sender to recipient, rather than as a triangulation, from sender to a third Party, an entity somewhere "out there," and then to the recipient.)

Some literature has begun to appear from groups concerning controlled studies of the relationship between prayer and healing. The Institute of Noetic Sciences, for example, has published papers on this subject. I would deem it premature, however, to say that they have proved conclusive in their findings. We continue to learn.

The Dark Side

Some negative aspects of prayer merit our attention. What motivates prayer in some cases? Greed? Ego? Militarism? Someone has wisely advised, "Take care what you pray for; you may well get it." Only a thin line separates kime from obsession.

Perhaps you have had an experience like this: A team of zealous evangelists collars you and attempts to direct you to "the one true path." Finding that you have a tendency to think for yourself and resist conversion, they depart, saying that they will pray for you. They, of course, have a corner on the truth, but they will graciously pray that God will bring your thinking into harmony with theirs. Prayers such as this strike me as insufferably arrogant, patronizing, and manipulative.

Then we have the phenomenon we might call "modem indulgences." Among the many televangelists some - you may have seen them - have no sense of shame in their pitch for financial contributions. Perhaps you too have experienced nausea when hearing that - in appreciation for your gift of x number of dollars - your name will appear on the prayer list, and the evangelist, with tears in his eyes and a catch in his voice, promises that he will pray for you. John Tetzel lives and thrives.

Prayers for victory over one's enemies may come dangerously close to turning into perverted petitions for the destruction of a hated nation. Mark Twain's bitter satire speaks to this:

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle - be thou near them! ... O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead: help us to drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief .... For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it in the spirit of love, of Him who is the Source of Love, and who is the ever faithful refuge and friend of all who are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

We might view the curse as the dark side of prayer. If we allow for the possibility of psicotherapy, must we not logically allow for the possibility that a curse might have some negative effect on the intended victim? I don't know. I have read anecdotal accounts of instances in which curses have apparently worked, even when the victim remained unaware of the curse. As to the reliability of these accounts, I don't know.

I stress that I do not pretend to have covered all that we might know about prayer. Evoking the X factor, I acknowledge the probability of dynamics at work of which I remain unaware. Even where I do not make this explicit I trust that you realize I do admit to my ignorance and my limitations

NOTE

A version of this article will appear as a chapter in William Dallmann's forth-coming book The Children of Prometheus: Toward a Rational Spirituality.

William Dallmann, Ph.D., retired as Professor of Communicative Disorders and Director of the Speech-Language Clinic at Valparaiso University (Indiana). He has served as Executive Director of Counseling Associates: Therapy in a Christian Context. He recently retired from the teaching of martial arts. His most recent ETC article, "The Old Man and Michael Welfare" appeared in the Winter 1992-93 issue.