Phenomenology of Prayer #2 Decentered Self

In the book Phenomenology of Prayer we find what it means to pray with a decentered self. The decentered self is a concept that we ourselves are not the all knowing source of knowledge. Human egos and minds are not at the center, we are not that worthy. The things we know, or think we know, are existent only in terms of society and other people. When trying to work towards a decentered self prayer, we must experience Kenosis, which is the 'self-emptying' of our own will, dropping everything and becoming 100% receptive to God's divine will. In Philippians 2:7 we can see this idea transpire. Jesus makes himself nothing, 'empties' himself to become a servant to His Father's will. We can also see this occurrence with John the Baptist when he stated "He must become greater; I must become less" in John 3:30. The majority of the time, people only go to prayer when they are in need of something, when they are struggling with something, or when they are in some form of pain. It's like a tool used only when you are ready and willing to take time out of your busy schedule to talk to God. This is not the true purpose of prayer and is not fair to God. To truly be in the realm of prayer, we must lose everything in our mind and be still. To pray with a decentered self is to empty everything and focus directly on God and what He is telling you. To pray with a decentered self is an experience and is sometimes hard obtain. When in prayer, we must drop all mental insecurities and flow with what God is saying. Once we start to think about it, we have then removed ourselves from the experience and are then back into our own mind and concepts.