Reflections on Non Religious Prayer
How praying to Life changed my life
When I first started praying all those years ago, I didn’t really understand it. I just knew it was something I had to do. I have never been religious nor exposed to religious teachings, so it seemed rather odd to me. To pray. However, it all began when my mum was dying of cancer 15 years ago. I was alone in a small church in Austria and consumed with my grief, (I have always loved churches and Austrias are particularly beautiful), when I had a sudden intense desire to get down on my knees and pray. I was sobbing and confused, with my ego trying to resist, ‘what nonsense is this?!’ and yet it felt like an invisible force gently guided me to my knees, with a soft voice whispering in my ear, ‘pray’.
And so I did.
My prayer practice has nothing to do with traditional religion, and everything to do with a deeper connection to Life that I can feel in my very bones. I simply believe in the ‘more’ to Life and I don’t need to place a label on top of what that more is. I have felt it, experienced it, and now live it, and that is enough for me. It is my personal belief that there is some greater benevolent force behind all of Life, and that each of us has an important part to play within it. That ‘God’ is indeed everywhere, because God for me is simply Love. The kind of Love with a capital L
“When you meet the God of Love, you tend to fire all other gods.”
Mirabai Starr