A question for ex-theists: Do you ever miss prayer?

[LAGC]

You know, that warm, tingly feeling you used to get inside yourself when you were communicating with your personal God? I must admit, I kind of miss it. Now that I know there's no one there listening to the other end of my meditations, that feeling is no longer there. I kind of envy believers for this, and kind of feel guilty every time I plant those seeds of doubt into a believer's soul. But usually the need to spread truth and reason outweighs those hang-ups. Am I just being sentimental? I know I've seen studies where prayer supposedly helps people heal faster -- not any act of God mind you, but just the biophysical reaction our bodies give when we are in that type of deep commune with whichever deity we happen to believe in. Sometimes I get sad that I will never again have this ability, as I don't think I can ever go back to believing after I've come this far down the road of doubt and skepticism. Why is there no option for the godless to find solace? Why can't we have our cake and eat it too?

[Oregone]

1. No

There is no magic, just schoolboy tingly you trick yourself into feeling. Throw on a decent album and you can conjure up the same feel-goody crap if thats what you're into. Otherwise, you can use your time to reflect on your day, and plan for a new one, or just kick back a beer and chill. Is it anything beyond mental masturbation, really, the way you describe it? There are quite a few ways to do that, without talking to an imaginary friend who you image actually gives a shit about you. If its solace you want from this, there are plenty of places to find it elsewhere. Regardless, maybe solace is over-rated. Maybe everything is.

[Iggo]

2. I never did get that feeling.

But that feeling you describe sounds like the feeling I miss from when I used to do dope.

Yes, I miss it sometimes. But I'm better off without the bullshit. And so are you.

[darkstar3]

3. I never did get that feeling,

and that's part of what led me down the road to non-belief.

[trotsky]

13. Same here.

Really wanted for it to feel like I wasn't just talking to myself, but it never did.

[iris27]

4. Yes. But having realized that the "warm, tingly feeling" had to be

self-generated, I can get to that point with meditation. I just don't do it as much, because I used to mostly pray for attitude changes in other people (like, for my father to stop being an abusive jerk), or other things that I couldn't do myself.

For speedy recovery from an illness, though, meditation does help, as it does for anything where it helps to have a clear mind (so like, meditating before a job interview, when you formerly would have been praying to get the job, can help you be less nervous and more focused).

What I miss more than prayer, though, is the ability to listen to and/or sing really great religious music without being bugged by the lyrics. I miss choir! There's just no real outlets for amateur, not-terrible-but-not-great vocalists to get their singing fix outside of a church or a karaoke bar.

[xocet]

5. No...

Do I miss writing letters to Santa Claus, miss hunting for Easter eggs or miss leaving teeth out for the Tooth Fairy? No. As to the studies of prayer, here is an article that discusses the efficacy of prayer and the quality of some of the prayer study research:

http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/science_of_prayer .

[moobu2]

6. nah

[ezgoingrl]

7. Nope, never felt like my prayers were going anywhere to

begin with. I am much more satisfied and fulfilled by gaining an understanding of the natural world.

[DeSwiss]

8. That tingling you felt....

...you just cut-off the blood supply when you were on your knees.

- All you have to do is what my football coach used to tell us.... walk it off!!!!

[MichellesBFF]

9. I feel that way in nature

And I'm an atheist.

[Odin2005]

20. +1

Who was it that said "Nature is my God and the forests are my temples"?

[Ian David]

10. No.

The first thing I used to do in synagogue was find Adon Olam in the book and mark the page, so I'd have an idea how close I was to the end of services.

The only thing I miss is the free bagel and lox and stuff after services.

[rug]

11. I am a theist and I rarely pray.

However, my belief in God, my belief that there is one, is a constant source of comfort and peace.

If there comes a time when I no longer believe, I expect I would most miss that sense of presence. And then I would read Marcus Aurelius.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. Even as a believer, I rarely got that "tingly" feeling

After being diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and chronic panic disorder, I learned some relaxation and breathing techniques that I can now use to gain that "tingly" feeling at will. I get the good feelings and benefits from that peacefulness, without all the nonsense of religion.

[RagAss]

14. Do you miss believing in Santa?

[tinrobot]

15. Learn to meditate

You'll rediscover that tingly feeling, but in a non-theistic context.

[sakabatou]

16. Nah. I thought of it as a waste of time.

[On the Road]

17. I Don't Miss It

although I had several years in college where I was really deep into it and very much felt it. But it was the result of being a serious head case, so it's not something I would go back to.

[cynatnite]

18. My mind often wandered during those things and I wound up wondering what the hell I was I was doing.

The answer is 'no', BTW.

[Odin2005]

19. Nope. It never made sense to me, even when I was still a Lutheran.

I guess that is probably my Asperger's talking, I don't have a need to project a social reality I never had an instinctual grasp of anyway onto the physical world. When I was a kid my "Christianity" was essentially Deistic anyway.

[Dorian Gray]

21. For me

as a theist, prayer is meditative.

I think non-theists can meditate and get similar benefits, if they choose to. They don't need to address God or a Higher Power in their meditation.

So, if you try meditation, perhaps you will find what you are looking for. There are many options for the Godless to find solace. But having "our cake and eating it too" is a weird way to put it. I don't think of religious belief or non-belief in those terms. It is what it is, and we embrace it as we embrace it.