PEC - your mother was a very nice, hard-working woman who did the best she could for her family. She was a good person. I remember her well.
I have to agree with all of you cynics about prayer - no one is listening. The one who described it as self-medicating is pretty accurate. I was thinking about this and another thread this morning on the way to work. The other thread was about the way JWs give jehovah credit for good things, but don't blame him for the bad things. I connected the dots for myself this morning. As a child, we were desperately poor. My mother had three little kids, an abusive alcoholic husband, and many days with no food on the table. Yest she managed to drag us to the KH where we would hear comments like the ones mentioned in the other thread - "Jehovah answered my prayers just in time!" Gas money or food or whatever was supplied just in time. Meanwhile here we sat at the KH, starving, badly clothed, poor, depressed, and wondering why jehovah didn't help us. The answer was either something was wrong with us, which I bought into, or there is no jehovah, which I finally realized. So I couldn't pray, just couldn't, another nail in my guilty coffin. Even though I tried really hard to be a good JW.
however, now I pray, it's probably just self-medication or a way I have of soothing myself, although mostly prayer comes when I feel grateful and have no one to share it with.
Tyrone, years ago I read the most interesting book. I wish I could remember the name - I think the author's name was Adam. Anyway he is a total non-believer who wanted to see if he could produce the same results in himself that people get through meditation. He meditated on a pencil, if I remember correctly. I'm going to look through my shelves to see if I still have it and send you the name to see if you have read it too. It was very absorbing as I remember.
