The Druid's Prayer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid%27s_Prayer
The Soldier's Prayer: http://crusaderknight.blogspot.com/2009/08/prayer-of-soldier.html
The Knight's Prayer: http://www.knightsbridge.org/about/prayer.html
My blog: http://www.staresattheworld.com/
My Twitter: http://twitter.com/Aurini
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I Feel You by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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This requested video comes from Shane, who asks that I cover the topic of prayer.
Now this is a really interesting question, especially with the present day situation we find ourselves in, the spiritual crisis of Western civilization.
For one thing, there's the increasing feminization of the church.
Now, this has been a problem going back centuries.
It's not a new problem in Christianity, but it's really coming to a head now, with most Christian denominations embracing feminism overtly or tacitly.
And the simple fact of the matter is the last time any of you likely said the word prayer, you were referencing Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat, Love, Pray, which was all about her reneging on her wedding vows to go to the third world and to blow all the family money, having a bunch of sexual escapades with a man who ultimately only wanted citizenship out of her.
And the fact that this book is being promoted in the mainstream as some sort of positive force is just absolutely laughable.
It's not only our society that has abandoned manly institutions and inducting young boys into manhood, but even our churches have done the same thing.
So talking about prayer for a man from a masculine perspective is a very challenging thing to do.
The other reason it's challenging is simply modern skepticism, modern rationality.
To put it simply, the idea of praying to God, a God that is omnipotent and omniscient, it almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn't it?
I mean, you're going to bother the ruler of the universe with your petty desires and your petty problems, and you're going to ask that he pulls the strings to give you what you want?
You know, it seems beneath us.
It seems childish, like astrology.
And yet that modern skepticism, that modern rationalism is anything but modern.
This is not a new objection to prayer.
This is something that goes back millennia.
People a thousand or two thousand or even three thousand years ago were not as foolish as we seem to think nowadays.
And so a good place to start this video off would be by quoting Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.
His thoughts on prayer.
The gods are either powerless or powerful.
If they are powerless, why do you pray?
But if they are powerful, why not rather pray for the gift of not fearing any of these things, or of not desiring any of them, or of not feeling grief for any of them, rather than that any one of them should be absent or present?
For surely, if the gods can cooperate with humans, they can cooperate to these ends.
But perhaps you will say, the gods put these things in my power.
Then is it not better to use what is in your power with a free spirit than to be concerned with what is not in your power in a spirit of slavery and objection?
And who said to you that the gods did not cooperate with us even in relation to things in our power?
Begin at least to pray about these things and you will see.
This man prays, How may I sleep with that woman?
You should pray, how may I not desire to sleep with that woman?
Another prays, how may I not lose my child?
You should pray, how may I not be afraid of losing him?
Turn your prayers around in this way and observe what happens.
And of course, that's from his meditations.
So this self-awareness of how ridiculous and absurd prayer is is not a new thing.
This isn't something we just figured out in the past century.
It goes back millennia, ever since there's been religion, this understanding of the foolishness of praying is there.
You know, either God already has a plan for the universe, so praying is pointless, or he is going to listen to your prayers, in which case you are this desperate pathetic slave begging him for favors.
Both of these seem patently absurd.
They completely go against the principles of autonomy, of self-mastery that's involved in being a man.
And yet, and yet, most of the great men in history, if not all of the great men, have prayed.
They have, many, many of them have been faithful.
So how do we square this circle?
How do we make sense of all of this?
What exactly are we doing when we pray?
Well, on the very surface of things, if you are engaged in an honest prayer, and this isn't even in the Christian tradition or the Catholic tradition, but just even for an atheist.
In fact, I think it might elucidate this better if we imagine an atheist praying, not to a God that they believe in, but to a principle of virtue, of ethics, of beauty that they adhere to.
So when this atheist prays, what are they doing?
Well, first of all, they are being honest with themselves.
If they start off by praying for other people, you know, I pray that this person manages to see wisdom, stops engaging in foolish behavior, stops pursuing folly.
I pray that this person, that the best happens to them, that they see the light, they see what they're doing is wrong, and that they become a better person.
The very first thing that goes through that man's head is: who am I to say what is right for them?
I may be very educated, very erudite, but for me to pray even metaphorically to a God I don't believe in, to a principle that I hold but I don't believe can influence the universe, by praying for this other person's salvation, aren't I saying that I have the keys to salvation?
How arrogant and foolish of me to do that.
And then there's the other type of prayer, not for others, but for the self.
Because here's the interesting thing about the Christian Bible, is, yes, certainly it says you should pray for others for their well-being, but it also tells you to pray for selfish things, to pray for what you want.
I mean, how ridiculous is this?
This book, which is about this grand scheme of the universe, this author that created the basic virtues of reality that created man and woman, wants us to pray for our petty little problems, our little wants and needs, our hungers and thirsts.
I mean, it's right in there that we are supposed to pray for these things.
And so even, again, you take the atheist who is praying to a God he does not believe in.
Alan Moore, for instance, praying to his imaginary snake god.
And by praying for the things that you actually desire, your selfish desires, it puts them out there.
It makes you see them.
The whole act of prayer, both praying for other people and praying for yourself, it puts your selfish desires out there where you can see them and where you can acknowledge them.
It forces you to do it in a manner that is deeply shameful, admitting your private desires, admitting the arrogance that you think you know how other people need to live their lives.
You know, it's easy to gossip and criticize somebody when you're sitting with your mate at the pub.
But when you're going in front of God, if you're going in front of the ultimate truth and making these statements, suddenly you realize how petty and small you are.
That arrogance is incredibly obvious.
And the exact same thing for your personal desires.
You realize that, no, you're not some sort of righteous philosopher king that's just dictating truth because of how well-read you are and how knowledgeable you are about everything.
No.
You're just another meat sack.
You're just another silly human going around subject to time, wants and needs, hungers and thirsts and lusts that you try and sate, and it makes you admit what all of these things are.
Praying puts your own consciousness on the table for you to see.
It forces you to be honest with yourself.
A lot of this has to do with thankfulness as well.
Because this is the third type of prayer that everybody should be making, is the prayer of thankfulness.
Now, if you want proof that humans are different than any other animal, that humans are unique, that we have this thing called free will, just look at gratitude.
Any other animal on the planet, if you do something nice for it, it appreciates it.
The higher mammals, you know, dogs and yes, cats, despite all the jokes, cats, if you give them food, they will give you lifelong loyalty.
But even the lesser creatures, exotic pets such as snakes and spiders, those creatures, by being fed by you, will start to imitate humans, the higher qualities that exist in human beings.
It's never perfect with these creatures and they can always revert back to their pure, pure lizard, pure animal nature at any time.
But you still see this, this reciprocity that exists throughout the animal kingdom, but is largely absent amongst humanity.
Man is the only animal that bites the hand that feeds it.
If you do something nice for another person, it is almost guaranteed, nine times out of ten, that they will feel resentment.
And if you're honest with yourself, anytime somebody does do something kind or charitable to you, your own heart is filled with resentment.
And so by engaging in prayer and thanking God, thanking the universe, thanking the unconscious universe for being this being that can feel pleasure, that can appreciate beauty,
that can acquire knowledge, being thankful for the things you have in life, combined with the humbleness that comes from acknowledging your base desires and acknowledging that you really don't know how everybody else needs to lead their lives, these three things together are why prayer is so important.
It grounds you in reality.
It prevents you from going off half-cocked and arrogantly trying to dictate to the universe how it should be.
It puts you in your place.
And we all need to be put in our places because we think far too highly of ourselves based upon our past behavior.
And ultimately, this honesty and humbleness will hopefully propel you into becoming a better person who's a little bit less flawed, who's a little bit kinder and more decent to your fellow man, and who's a little bit more hardworking.
Because as St. Augustine would say, prayers of everything dependent upon God work like everything dependent upon you.
So folks, this is the end of the video.
I'm going to finish off with a few slides of different prayers that might inspire you.
And it's something I invite everyone to think about because, as I said, most of the great men in history have prayed.
And just because our society and our church is fallen and corrupt does not mean that we have any excuses for being the same.
