This next section is a list of some ideas from the prayer scrolls i kept in the red tube...i'm missing other brainstorming sessions written on large poster paper that i will add to this list...i also have not (yet) organized this list into clusters of topics...
i heard an inspirational sermon tonight that made me think about "legacy" and i thought: "If i die tonight and do not post something, the legacy with be nill, and no one will be able to run with any of these ideas (even if only one person benefits, that is enough)--i need to pass on the baton to the next runner before it's too late...so with my cup of dandelion tea, i write this at 11 pm on a Saturday in late September of 2019...a very rough draft for YOU...
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| Turn On the Light of Prayer |
Conceptual foundations:What is prayer?
How is it similar/different than: meditation, contemplation, reflection, wishful thinking, hypnosis, magic, mindfulness, centering, kything, yoga…
Some questions to ask people to get at a definition of prayer:
How would you define prayer?
In one sentence, define the essence of prayer.
What's another word/phrase for prayer?
Lis some synonms for prayer.
What is the opposite of prayer?
What is a person doing when they pray?
What are the essential characteristics of prayer?
What images come to mind when you see/hear the word "prayer"?
Attempt to define: prayer ways, prayer types, methods of prayer.
List as many kinds of prayer as you can for one minute?
What are the dynamics of prayer>?
How would you categorie/classify different tyeps of prayer?
How would you describe prayer growth/development/stages?
How did you learn to pray?
Who taught you to pray?
What resources have you found helpful in prayer?
How would you teach others to pray?
What counts as prayer messages? How do we know a given messages is prayer?
Non-verbally, could individuals identify from a picture a prayerful: face, voice, posture, place?
What artifacts (non-human things) are associated with prayer, e.g., candles, rosary beads, prayer beads, statues, mats, shawls, attire, pews, chairs, cushions…?
Can different kinds of language be considered prayer: a word, phrase, declarative sentence, question…developing a lexicon of prayer? The semantic space of prayer using the original measurement of meaning idea from Osgood et. al. semantic space.
Forms of prayer: silent, verbal (spoken, chanted, sung, shouted…), nonverbal…
Musical prayer--the proliferation of music videos since MTV in the early 1980's has changed the way many of us experience music...why not use this medium to promote prayer through music?
Dancing as prayer--Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms seems like a good place to start--the wave of: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness speaks to me of the rhythm of prayer and the rhythm of life, like a wave, each part having it's time and place (her book "Sweat your prayers" provides details and explanation of the method).
Art as prayer--drawings, paintings, sculpture, woodwork, video production, theatre...two perspectives, one as prayer in the creation of these artifacts, and second prayerfully viewing/appreciating/observing these artifacts--see book: "Praying in Color" for ideas
Poetry as prayer--i love the Haiku form of poetry--three simple lines, the first sets the context, the second leads us to expect something, to want to know the ending, and the third line, if it's a good haiku, will provide us with a surprise ending, breaking the context and imparting insight, and sometimes wisdom. There are of course many other forms of poetry, and poetry as "spoken word" provides another context/medium to share prayer with a live audience.
Dancing as prayer--Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms seems like a good place to start--the wave of: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness speaks to me of the rhythm of prayer and the rhythm of life, like a wave, each part having it's time and place (her book "Sweat your prayers" provides details and explanation of the method).
Poetry as prayer--i love the Haiku form of poetry--three simple lines, the first sets the context, the second leads us to expect something, to want to know the ending, and the third line, if it's a good haiku, will provide us with a surprise ending, breaking the context and imparting insight, and sometimes wisdom. There are of course many other forms of poetry, and poetry as "spoken word" provides another context/medium to share prayer with a live audience.
How is prayer defined based on different disciplines, especially: psychology, sociology, communication, medicine, anthropology, theology, and philosophy. Included here would also be THEORIES of prayer in all of these different disciplines, of special interest would be interdisciplinary theories of prayer.
Communication theories of prayer--since prayer is a type of communication, it makes sense that each communication theory should have something to contribute to the understanding of prayer. What can we learn from each communication theory about prayer: Burgoon's expectancy violations theory, Berger's uncertainty reduction theory, Peace and Cronin's coordinated management of meaning theory, Baxter and Montgomery's relational dialectics theory, Tannen's Genderlect styles, Aristotle's rhetorical theory, Fisher's narrative paradigm, Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory, and so forth...
What are the functions of prayer?
How can prayer be used to make decisions? Solve problems? Mediate? Negotiate? prayers of thanksgiving, petition, confession, intercession are some common categories to begin with.
Coping with stressers in life…school, work, recreation, relationships, health…
What is the ideal prayer environment?
Color, textures, tastes, lighting, icons, plants, furniture, air quality, inside or outside? Descriptions of where people best prayer, and favorite prayer places/spaces.
How does the way an individual prays related to: their relationship with G, and their image of G?
What are individual’s prayer: expectancies, beliefs, attitudes, affect, behavior…whole constellation of possible variables here.
Prayer quotes--a compilations of short quotes from holy books, wisdom sayings, and other sources about what prayer is, advice for praying, and so forth.
Prayers for every occasion--sample prayers for different occasions, settings, circumstances, emotions, problems/challenges, decisions, and so forth...prayers in times of: sorrow, grief, joy, happiness, friendship, divorce, before a test, job interview, road trip, the list here is endless...like a handbook, could look up anything and there would be a prayer for it.
Lots of research on frequency of prayer, less on quality of prayer…descriptions of the phenomenological experiences of prayer…difficulty of mapping consciousness as a person is praying, fmri doesn’t help much in that blood flow associations with different parts of the brain doesn’t tell us about the content of the experience
Prayer and Relationship with God--how does the person praying conceptualize their relationship with God. Andrew Greeley the priest-sociologist maintains in Religion as Poetry that all of our relationships are based on our fundamental relationship with God.
There are many different ways to conceptualize human relationships: strangers, acquaintances, friends, lovers, parent-child, co-workers, co-creators, servant-master.
There are many descriptors that could describe any of these relationships such as the continuums of: shallow-deep, apathetic-involved, formal-casual, controlling-free, distant-close, dishonest-honest, competitive-cooperative, hostile-loving, serious-playful, active, receptive (and some of these could be both at different times, e.g., sometimes in contemplative prayer the relationship on the human side seems more receptive, and sometimes in singing/chanting prayer the relationship on the human side seems more active--so it may be best to measure some of these on an intensity dimension, or to describe different kinds of prayer and rate each of these separately)--to what degree do these human terms mirror one's relationship with the Divine?
There are many different names that one might use to describe their relationship with the Divine, for example, Yahweh, Allah, Father, Mother, Goddess, God, Shiva, Spirit, and so forth...is there a comprehensive list of these names and the qualities/characteristics associated with each name? What does this tell us about the person's relationship with the divine and the kind of prayer they are likely to engage in?
Prayer progressions, stages, sequences, levels…what is the goal of prayer, can one be positioned on a continuum of prayer in relation to a goal, what is the best way to visualize the process of praying?
Inter-religious prayer—is this even possible. Different religions prayer in different ways, to different deities or beings or ancestors or…is there any common ground among the many different ways of praying that might make inter-religious prayer possible? What would an inter-religious prayer sound like? What are the different methods of prayer recommended by the world religions, and what are the functions of prayer according to the different religions?
Prayer stories—if one were to ask individuals, “tell me a story about a time you prayed”what kinds of stories would they tell, what does this reveal about their assumptions regarding prayer, the ways of prayer, the functions of prayer, the language of prayer, their relationship with G, and so forth…stories could reveal much about prayer. I'm recalling what DeMello once wrote (paraphrased)...Read a story once and be entertained, read it twice and apply it to your life for knowledge, read it a third time and carry it your heart, let its fragrance and melody haunt you for real wisdom.
Phenomenology of prayer-related to prayer stories but focused more on the experience of prayer--how do individuals describe their prayer experiences in first person language, what kinds of metaphors, images, language do they invoke, what senses seem to be most prevalent, and how do individuals describe the undescribable moments of bliss, awareness, void, silence, and so forth...?
Neuroscience of prayer--what is going on in the brain when an individual is praying different kinds of prayer, e.g., meditative prayer on a sacred word versus intercessory prayer for the healing of a specific person in their social network...does it even matter what parts of the brain light up to indicate more blood flow during prayer to certain parts of the brain? perhaps the most spectacular result would be minimal blood flow and a reported experience of ecstasy! See Andrew Newberg and Richard Dawson's work.
What does it mean to have a prayer practice? A prayer life or life of prayer?
Is it possible to pray without ceasing? To be in a constant state of prayer? What does this mean on a pragmatic level? If part of working memory is devoted to prayer would this be a cognitive impairment for the individual, or is it more like a mantram that runs continually in the background without conscious attention?
Un/answered prayer…how does one go about verifying if a prayer has been answered, especially for cases of healing prayer for nonphysical ailments…do we look to medical records, subjective experience/self-report, observations from others in the person’s environment for changes in attitude and behavior, or all of the above?
How does prayer change a person over time? For those elders that have prayed for decades, how would they say prayer has changed them? For others that take up a prayer practice, e.g. daily centering prayer, do those they live with notice any differences in their language, behavior, disposition over time? Does prayer make one more “saintly”, inspire more virtuous/ethical behavior, more kindness, compassion? Does prayer make one more resilient, hopeful, peaceful, loving?
Representations of prayer in popular culture and social media, especially cinema, you tube videos, magazines, twitter, facebook, novels, and music (do different genres of music reflect different styles of prayer, e.g. are country western lyrics about prayer different than hip-hop lyrics about prayer).
What are the typical “occasions” of/for prayer, e.g. greetings, departures, blessings, birthdays, holy days, anniversaries, weddings, rites of passage, before a medical procedure, before an exam…could one develop a sample prayer for each of these unique situations as “prayer starters” for individuals.
Do individuals with different personalities tend toward different kinds of prayer (e.g., extroversion and singing prayer, and introversion and silent prayer?).
Are prayers associated with different character strengths as in the Clifton strength finder (e.g., resilience, hope) or the Values in Action survey? The idea is to "pray with one's strengths"
Are certain foods and drinks associated with prayer? One example for Catholics is the eucharistic bread and wine.
Teaching prayer: what is the best way to introduce young children to prayer--modeling, behavioral reinforcement, memorized prayers, centering prayer...how about teenagers, young adults, middle aged, elderly?
Wisdom of the Ages--what advice do elders have for prayer?
Prayer Inventory--a comprehensive and systematic inventory of an individual's prayer life including socio-economic variables, religious/spiritual variables, frequency, duration, types of prayer, a history of prayer, prayer stories, and so forth. Develop a short version of the prayer inventory for medical practitioners and chaplains so they know how to pray with their patients if that is their desire.
Prayer prescriptions--advice for particular kinds of prayer that physicians and nurses would provide to their patients as complementary to their regular medical care.
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