Phenomenology of Prayer #2

When reading the Phenomenology of Prayer, the emphasis on the posture of prayer and engaging in "disinterested delight" in God. The act of focusing wholly on another, devoting all praise to God while ignoring my self-interest, this goes against my human nature. Pure prayer, however, requires this delight in God, and I can only achieve this state through a decentering of self. The stages of prayer presented by the author present a structure which helps devote time to acknowledging God: praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition (for self), and intercession (for others). This structure, however, still makes the "self" abundantly present: "I petition God for the things I want of think I need, and I intercede for whom I care, I ask God to forgive my sins and to grant me the benefit of forgiveness; and I thank God for what God has given me" (14). The human mind craves constant attention to self, we hate to relinquish our time to thoughts purely focused on another. When we establish this structure for prayer, we are still giving ourselves the power; I find that the moments of purest meditation on God happen purely by His will.

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