Give Us This Day: The Story of PrayerGandhi called prayer "the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening." But what is a prayer? Do you need to believe in God in order to pray? Why are the words important? What is the difference between prayer and meditation? Should you ask for things when you pray? Do prayers change the world around us? Rufus Goodwin--writer, linguist, and former United Press correspondent to the Vatican--addresses these and other questions about prayer in this thoughtful book. He examines the various traditions of prayer through the ages. He discusses practices, ranging from the ancient Indian yoga of sound to the Christian monastic rules of prayer, giving examples of the various religious litanies that ritualize and celebrate the sense of a higher life. Goodwin's intention is not to compare different traditions, but to get at the essential technique and the attitude of prayer--its cognitive workings. Prayer is seen as key to an active inner life and an experience of the higher self. He shows us how prayer can bring about a cognitive restructuring that provides greater access to renewal, imagination, inspiration, and intuition, and provides an anchor for meaning in daily life. |
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... priest and king . They had the function of ritualizing , raising , and celebrating a sense of higher life . They were a training and discipline of inner attitude toward public and divine and even supernatural events . They were the ...
... priests can give . There is , in some ways , not much more to say . The theologian will talk of the paradox of God ... priest , the mother , the counselor can assure the ques- tioner or the faithful that this is so . They do so often ...
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Contents
7 | |
16 | |
23 | |
29 | |
31 | |
The Wailing Wall Jewish Tradition | 42 |
Celtic Blessings | 49 |
Jesus at Prayer | 57 |
ACCESS TO PRAYER | 135 |
Seed Words for Sleepless Nights | 137 |
Stages or Meditation | 144 |
A First Prayer | 154 |
Mantras | 159 |
Western Mantras | 166 |
The Lords Prayer | 171 |
The Future or Prayer | 176 |
The Apostles Pray | 68 |
The Church Fathers | 75 |
Eastern Orthodox Tradition | 86 |
Prayer Rugs Islamic Tradition | 93 |
What Use Is Prayer? The Medievals | 104 |
The Dazzling Darkness | 113 |
Objections to Prayer | 123 |
APPENDIX | 185 |
B Medicine in Prayer | 197 |
GLOSSARY of prayer terms | 207 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 217 |
INDEX | 222 |