Olivia Strittmatter - The Phenomenology of Prayer

 Blog post 5 - The Phenomenology Of Prayer 

This post is going to be about the concept of learning to pray that is introduced in chapter one of The Phenomenology of Prayer.

It starts off talking about how when people pray they are usually asking for things from God, either for themselves or for others. This isn’t what praying is supposed to be though, and he compares it to how a toddler learns to pray. People usually pray when they want or need something, like to be cured of an illness or to pass an exam, but this doesn’t hold any meaningful type of communication with anything that is sacred.

Meaningful communication should be open and honest. Just talking like you would with a close friend in a time of need. You don’t ask your friend to make the decision for you, but rather to give you advice on what to do, and to help guide. 

He talks about how there are five elements of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition, intercession. How these aspects are supposed to be used together in order to, I’m not sure, pray properly?? I think though, that prayer doesn’t need these aspects, I think that prayer can be anything that connects one with the sacred. I understand that there are certain parts of communication that are deemed “prayer” but there isn’t an order to how to pray.

Prayer isn’t supposed to be reciting lines and asking for things. It’s supposed to be open and honest communication with the sacred. Instead of asking what the right choice is, you should be asking for guidance in making the best choice.

Learning to pray is a journey that is different for everyone, there’s no “correct” path or method. Prayer should be something that is unique to everyone, as no one has the same relationship with the sacred/divine. So learning to pray isn’t necessarily following the “five elements of prayer” but rather doing what works for you to enable you to have clear, open, and honest communication with yourself and the sacred.