Do you miss feeling that "Jehovah" was listening to prayers?

by LyinEyes 57 Replies latest jw friends

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  JamesThomas

  Now about Prayer,,,,,,,,,,,maybe I can go a different direction in my thinking on that one.

  I suggest abandoning the "thinking" part, while shifting "direction" to within.

  Perhaps what you are experiencing dear, is a yearning for connection to something bigger than the shard of existence* which we commonly identify with. Often the true connection is reestablished through silent and open conscious-awareness of this present-moment.

  The seeming illness of "disconnection" is a symptom of too much focus of attention on the mind's interpretation of life, and not enough attention on Life.

  The mind naturally fragments, separates and categorizes life that it may acquire a sense of understanding and place within it. Unfortunately it gets to enthusiastic and often shrinks and separates a sense of self in the process. You, are not at all separate from all Life; it just appears to be that way.

  What you desire dear, the Source and Sustenance which you yearn for, is closer than close; and IS what you actually are.

  j

  * the term shard of existence, I just recently heard from dear LittleToe; and liked it so much, I took it.
• 

  LyinEyes

  James, thanks,,,,,, I do understand what you are saying, just dont ask me to explain it.....hehe.

  You know the only time that I can say that I come close to feeling...........something spiritual, something bigger than myself, is when I am sitting outside. Only then do I allow myself to really begin to step out of the confines of what I know to be solid known truths and begin to wonder ........what if... ya know? I think I need to spend more time out in nature just letting what may come to me , come. I figure it can't hurt, it might actually make me feel .. something.
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  Robert K Stock

  I felt very strange about not praying and it took me some time to get used to not "throwing my burden on Jehovah"

  Once I realized that prayer focuses a persons' mind on his problems and that he is actually praying to himself and not a supernatural third party that the imagined "void" was filled.

  Take courage. The answers are within you.
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  Preston

  Actually, I still pray to "Jehovah"...sometimes I still use his name too... ... I know God's name isn't "Jehovah" and I know the whole concept of God in which the JW's portrayed him was a way off, however, it's what I'm familiar with... can't think of a better name to call him, to me just calling him LORD or GOD is too bleh...

  - Preston
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  Moridin

  For me praying and believing my prayers were getting answered died when i was about 8 years old when most kids stop believing in Santa Claus. I never had a prayer answered and just thought it was because I was a bad jw.
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  jst2laws

  Lyineyes,

  I think I need to spend more time out in nature just letting what may come to me , come. I figure it can't hurt, it might actually make me feel .. something

  Now your talkin. And don't question it, don't jugde it, just go with it.

  Jst2laws
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  LyinEyes

  I know what you mean Preston , ( btw,,,,,,hugs and kisses) ,,,,,,when I first started praying after leaving the borg, I would say......"Lord", and I felt like I was cheating on Jehovah, it just didnt feel right. I even tried praying to Jesus and that didnt feel right , at the time either. So I have to admit that when I first left the borg, and my belief in God was still basically there, I too, would pray to Jehovah. I am still working on if I even believe in God, it is really hard for me to imagine there is any other God , other than Jehovah ya know. So when I lost Him so to speak,,,I find beleiving in any other very difficult.
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  LittleToe

  I've gotta go with James and Jst2Lws.

  Go with your gut, and get out into nature.
  It seemed to work for Buddah, and Jesus was always halfway up some mountain or other

  ("Father" (or similar) is another alternative, if you don't like names and titles)
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  frankiespeakin

  Lying,

  I still pray every once in a while as a force of habit the prayer sare usually short and to the point but not really directed at any God in the sky thing. I think it may even be a way of releasing tension.
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  talesin

  Lyin'

  I felt the same for many years. The prayer would come naturally, but I didn't know where to put it. It didn't make sense, and so why was my logic failing me?

  What you said, about nature, is true for me. Sitting on the earth, or on a rock or a felled tree, and just feeling ... that's it. I like to close my eyes, and the energy flows. As JamesThomas says, and don't ask me to splain it, either. ;)

  I feel there is power in the thoughts and energy we put out, so I let the thoughts go, into the collective consciousness, many call it prayer ... for me, it is communing with nature, using a part of our true nature that often lies buried in too much thought.

  t