Prayer 2-Amanda Ewen

The Phenomenology of Prayer- Chapter 4

            The chapter starts off by explaining that prayer is both private and public and is one of the most common of human actions.  It is also said that we too often pray for things.  We pray for victory, objects, and positions.  When praying for victory or a certain position you don’t ever think about the people that aren’t getting what they want because you got what you wanted.  I found this to be extremely eye opening.  I realized that I too prayer for objects without regard for others.  I pray to have a certain person in my life not realizing what would happen to them and their happiness if they were in my life.  The fact that we pray for objects traps us in an “earthly economy.”  The chapter tells about the two concepts of the sacred.  Phenomenology is the study of appearing.  The sacred signifies things that cannot appear.  The second concept is the sense of the sacred world by incarnating himself.  The process of incarnation involves emptying out of God.  In order to encounter god we must empty ourselves.  The chapter closes with what we should pray for.  In the beginning of the chapter it was pointed out that we pray for things without regards for those who it may affect.  Does this mean that we can no longer pray for things we want?  The question was answered by saying that by denying ourselves we re saying that what we want is less significant then others.  I have conflicts about the answer to this question.  It was not very clear whether or not we should continue to pray for the things we want.