Episode Information

CMS: Prayer
Aired:
11/30/2009
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In this episode:

Exploring the ancient tradition of prayer in modern culture.

 

Host:
Colin McEnroe
Guest(s):
Contributor(s):
Patrick Skahill
Episode Audio

49:28 minutes (23.75 MB)
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So, OK, I don't pray. Not so much.

And I can't really say it's working out for me. But I was up at a conference in late summer at the Omega Institute and I heard somebody talk about the idea of at least, at the start of every day, thinking a thought that connects you to something meta - God, the higher power, the quantum field, whatever.

And I thought: I could do that. I should do that. And then I thought, what kind of wuss-bunny weak tea compromise is that? You can't even make a commitment to pray? To pray hopefully? You have to think a thought that connects you to something meta. Grown a spine, you pathetic bet-hedger. And then I thought: that's exactly the kind of self-recimination I am being urged to avoid here at this conference and in my something-meta-thinking.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when we approach something as simple as prayer with a spidery sideways scuttle.

Leave your comments below or e-mail colin@wnpr.org. You can even follow us on Twitter @thecolinmcenroe.


 
Related Content:
Links for this Episode:
Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding

Today's Show

Submitted by Tom Trombley (not verified) on December 1, 2009 - 1:55pm.

Today show prompted me to remember someone I knew a long time ago in Baltimore.  Cantor Perry Fine what I think was a lucrative job in Baltimore to move to NJ to become a cantor. 

He has some pretty nice stuff posted on the Temple's web site.  Here is a link.

http://www.bethelnj.org/whoweare/prayers-blessings-trope.shtml

http://www.bethelnj.org/whoweare/fine.shtml

Now, I have to send him an email and ask how he's been in the last 25 years since I last saw him.

 

TT

 

Listener E-mail from Wendy

Submitted by ctalarski on December 1, 2009 - 9:42am.
I really enjoyed your show today.  I was also raised by a non practicing Catholic father and a non practicing protestant mother. My mother worshipped nature more than anything else.  I began praying on my own , around age 11 or 12.  I baptized my kids as Catholics, as their father is Catholic. I enjoy going sometimes. I researched Islam, but found I could in no way identify with God on a personal level...it was very ritualistic and God seemed very angry at me all the time.  I sometimes go to Born again Christian churches, but then sometimes they can be too judgmental. I think I feel pretty comfortable praying at home to God, thanking Jesus, and going to church once in a while. Although, I love the headscarves that Muslim women wear.  I don't know much about the Jewish faith, or Hindu...need to learn about those.
Thanks.
W p.s.  I know there is a God simply because I never stop seeking "him".  :)