Like a Diamond, Prayer is a multi-faceted Jewel
For the past 35 years I have intellectually (and emotionally) worked over – and over - a lot of spiritual, religious, and psychological issues, Similar to Tolstoy’s experience I found the relentless questioning eliminated quite a number of beliefs, and I would say as a result, my guess is that I probably hold fewer beliefs than the vast majority of people and I am quite certain that I have almost no dogmatic commitments. A benefit of that is that I believe that I tend to look at problems and issues from almost every angle possible. I should say that, I have done my due diligence in researching spirituality, religious beliefs, psychology, and the Psychology of Religion.
Take prayer, for instance. Most everything I have read about prayer – both from the Christian position, as well as from viewpoint of psychologists, dwells, from my perspective, somewhat obsessively with the “divine intervention” aspect of prayer. Every study of prayer that I have seen focuses on the efficacy of prayer. That is, researchers dwell on the issue of whether prayer works or not. If someone prays for another person’s healing from one disease or illness, the measure of prayer is whether the person prayed for is cured. In essence what the psychologists are trying to prove – or disprove – is whether or not divine intervention exists or not. Now, any objective analysis of the issue of divine intervention would lead to a conclusion that God would not necessarily intercede for each and every prayer, and that assuming that divine intervention does exist one would need to look at the chances of any radical divine intervention as having the chances the same as having the chances of winning a Mega-million lottery ticket. Any objective study would then need to involve thousands of people using some rather strict experimental controls.
I have had many enjoyable and definitely enlightening discussions about spiritual and theological questions and issues with Anglican Reverend Burr. Because I have had a few precognitive spiritual experiences, I do believe in miracles. However, my view is: “OK,…Miracles are real…but what is the point?” I have expressed my view to Reverend Burr that Christianity dwells, in my view, somewhat excessively with the miracles and revelations, and seems, at times, to properly and successfully highlight and emphasize the “Teaching of Christ.” From my fairly thorough research into psychology and the Psychology of Religion, I would say the excessive attention paid to the divine intervention and ‘God as a Being’ aspect of Christianity, is doubly (or triply) true for psychology and social psychology. From my perspective psychology and social psychology analyses of religious beliefs and spirituality are definitely One-Dimensional!
In three Psychology of Religion textbooks there is not a single reference to “Truth” in any of the textbooks. Yet in the Gospel of John, John 4:23-24 records Jesus saying, "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth!” Perhaps the most famous verse about truth in the Bible is what Jesus said “… I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Buddha defines Nirvana, the ultimate goal for Buddhists, in a sutra as the “Truth.” Of course, in Buddhism the “Four Noble Truths” form a pillar of Buddhist beliefs. In Hinduism, “Truth is divinity itself. Brahman is Truth personified…… Hence, the Prasna Upanishad [Upanishads are the most sacred Hindu texts] (1.15) declares that Truth is established in Brahma.” (1) Truth and being true are a consistent theme in Islam and the Quran: “And whoever obeys Allah and the Apostle, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they!” (Surah Nisa 4:69) In the Old Testament Truth is also a frequent theme: Psalm 119:160 “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” Also, in Daniel, Daniel 10:21 “But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.” It would seem evident that “Truth” is a pivotal concept in all religions. Lastly, I should point out and duly emphasize that all of scientific and philosophical endeavors have been a struggle and search for the Truth, or to solve the “mystery” as Einstein might put it. The bottom line is that, generally, psychological analyses most definitely did not even touch religion as a “teaching” or seek to grasp the basic concepts involved in religions.
That brings us full circle back to the issue of prayer. Freud in one of his saner moments stated categorically that the only real possible approach for science in understanding religion and religious beliefs is to analyze its function(s). In the preceding paragraph I believe I have shown that, in general, psychology has not done functional analyses. That, is in the Psychology of Religion there would seem to exist a prevalent methodological flaw in the psychological approach to religion. So, in light of a functional approach, what possible functions could prayer have. First, I would mention in passing that science has shown that to some extent meditation, as well as prayer, to an extent has been shown to have a calming and stabilizing effect. And common sense would seem to suggest that prayer would help focus peoples’ attention on issue and thus possibly assist in reaching solutions for problems.
The textbook on Aging addresses research into prayer and cites two studies which show that prayer is ineffective in mediation of problems and illness. I should note that the book does not cite the successful study of cardiac patients in a hospital undertaken with strict methodological protocols. Yet, I would argue that psychological studies of prayer are all skewed simply because they are studying the wrong characteristic of prayer. From my somewhat extensive research into psychology and religion, my observation has been that much of psychology dwells on the “divine intervention” aspect of religion without proper consideration being given to the “teaching” aspect of Christianity for instance. That is, for all practical purposes no analysis has been done of compassion or forgiveness, and little or no attention has been paid to righteousness or morals. In prayer, I would argue that the function of prayer has been no consideration.
Some years ago, I saw a TV video clip about a woman outside a Cathedral in Paris who had just come from praying after the second bloody ISIS attack in France. A number of French people were killed. The question that occurred to me was, “What had she been praying about in the Catholic Cathedral? The thought crossed my mind that she very well may have been “orienting” herself to that terrible and violent act of terrorism by ISIS. I’m sure she would have prayed for the victims and the families of the victims of that attack. In praying for the victims of that terrorist act I’m sure the anterior cingulate region in her brain, which has been implicated in feelings of empathy for others, was activated. Roy Baumeister has shown that the “Need to Belong” is a powerful drive in human nature, and powerful emotions are involved in the need to belong. So, the bottom line in praying for others, positive “affects” and emotions would have been generated. And science has shown that positive emotions have definite health benefits. Also, she would thus reinforce her self-image as a compassionate individual. In praying for the police and in reaching out to God, she would be calming her fears and assuring herself of protection. I’m sure the woman also prayed for the police, hoping I’m sure they would bring these criminals to justice and protect her. So, that kind of orientation would have a calming effect and probably reduce anxiety. Baumeister notes that even “false” beliefs in “Control” (he argues that a lot of religion is about “control – though to my best recollection he doesn’t being up Christ’s teaching about compassion) generate positive affect and reduce anxiety. Hume, long, long before Baumeister) argued pretty much exactly the same thing. I would argue that if a person is trying to exert control in a situation which is dangerous it is actually possible, however unlikely, that some real positive good might come of it.
Lastly, I talked to Millie whose daughter has had several bouts with cancer, and is undergoing cancer treatment for liver cancer. She adamantly insisted that a positive attitude was crucial and critical in conquering cancer. She swears by the power of prayer and believes completely that her daughter’s survival was an act of prayer. Amit Sood, a medical doctor from the Mayo clinic, states unequivocally that “spirituality” is pivotal and vital in resisting and fighting illness and disease. Koenig a medical doctor who is a prolific writer argues the same thing and offers some studies which have been done as evidence. Much of psychology is a self-fulfilling prophecy and it is well known that positive thinking is much more likely to yield positive results than negative thinking. Millie notes that Her daughter’s doctors have told her twice that she would not live out the year. So, the hopes and positive aspirations of Millie’s daughter’s prayers are worth at least ten thousand failed prayers. In any case, my argument is that psychology’s entire approach to prayer, and in the large context to religion is false and incorrect.
My conclusion is that to obsess over the divine intervention aspect of prayer is both dysfunctional and also distorts the “Truth” of prayer. In his book, Roy Baumeister somewhat snidely comments about Christians praying to change the trajectory of a ball. I have talked to a fairly large number of Christians and not one has ever given even the slightest hint or inclination to try to change the trajectory of a ball by prayer. While Baumeister is brilliant and his work on the need to belong, meaning, and sharedness, his comment about prayer shows some very deep-seated prejudices.
(1) https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts/truth-sathyam.asp