Great post!
I think all religions do an excellent job of giving people a basic guide to living a successful, meaningful life. If you dissect each constraint that the religion teaches, you can almost always see its purpose, simply from looking into its void in the hedonistic world we live in.
I see the prayer as no different.
Many Psychologists, sociologists, etc. advice meditating. This is basically clearing your mind from the endless back and forth thoughts that bounce around constantly. I strongly believe the engineers of religion, whether knowingly, or unknowingly, structured the prayer to do the same exact thing.
In addition to this, I think the prayer gives people hope and fights nihilism. When practiced "religiously", I think it has a "brainwashing" effect (not necessarily negative) on the worshiper.
I think all religions do an excellent job of giving people a basic guide to living a successful, meaningful life. If you dissect each constraint that the religion teaches, you can almost always see its purpose, simply from looking into its void in the hedonistic world we live in.
I see the prayer as no different.
Many Psychologists, sociologists, etc. advice meditating. This is basically clearing your mind from the endless back and forth thoughts that bounce around constantly. I strongly believe the engineers of religion, whether knowingly, or unknowingly, structured the prayer to do the same exact thing.
In addition to this, I think the prayer gives people hope and fights nihilism. When practiced "religiously", I think it has a "brainwashing" effect (not necessarily negative) on the worshiper.