The idea that everything would happen exactly as it does regardless of whether we pray or not is a specter that haunts the minds of many who sincerely profess belief in God. It makes prayer psychologically impossible, replacing it with dead ritual at best.
We like to put sacred texts in flowing waters, so I rolled it up, tied it to a piece of wood, placed a dandelion on top, and floated it in the stream which flows into the Swat River. Surely God would find it there.
A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual.
Watching a woman make Russian pancakes, you might think that she was calling on the spirits or extracting from the batter the philosopher's stone.
For ritual allows those who cannot will themselves out of the secular to perform the spiritual, as dancing allows the tongue-tied man a ceremony of love.
I go to churches to pray, but I don't go to mass.
It's the same thing as a primitive of Africans, Indians, nomads or whatever - when they start getting up and doing their ritual and doing the dance, it's just what's coming through. It's the spirit. Rock 'n' roll is still primitive.
Your dreamer may do without a creed, but he always wants a ritual.
My parents would always trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads before they kissed us goodnight.
I pray and listen to music on the way to the stadium. I also bless myself just before kick-off.
I pray every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up.
