If I started this lesson by saying that prayer is the same as talking to yourself, I would certainly offend quite a number of people. This is because in many peoples minds, there is a collision between ones presupposition of God's existence and the deification of humanity. Thus the conclusion is that if God exists, then he/she is NOT me and he/she is outside of me.  When God is understood at "out there", then prayer becomes directed toward the sky, the front of the church, or the stars. Thus when religious leaders teach modern people to pray, they usually give us some formula to follow-prayer in a box. With this understanding, is it any wonder that atheists look "out there" to where religion is pointing and conclude nothing is there?

Last week I said that if we go deeper in any subject it is only possible by employing spiritual energy.  I said this because I want to begin weaving these "redefinitions" together for you.  Try out this exercise.

Begin thinking about your favorite hobby, pastime, or subject. As your interest in this "thing" grows, you devote more time and "spiritual" energy toward knowing more about it. Each subject has gear, tools, or knowledge that is essentially "entry level" but as you go deeper the gear, tools, and knowledge becomes more nuanced (and expensive). A competition level bicycle, that awesome set of clubs, the ultimate kitchen, the custom computer, all reflect the spiritual energy, hours of experience, and contemplation of focusing within a particular subject. Behind it all is a mind, or thought process, or philosophy, or hope, it is something like an "idea" but more. Everything starts as nonphysical, spiritual energy, then becomes a physical thing to support going even deeper still.  The word becomes flesh and dwells among us (John 1: 14).

If you can grasp this movement, or process, then you can grasp prayer. All of this is prayer. Prayer has a subject and an object. Going deeper into golf is prayer. Even if we say that it all begins within the deepest parts of our mind, that beginning point is only the intersecting moment where we first become aware. (that thing behind the thing is there before we are aware of it) This point of awareness is called inspiration (from inspire-breathe in,or spirit in, or Greek word Neuma-spirit or wind). This means that all things are spiritual in nature and prayer is not only a person talking to God. It is that, but so much more.

Timothy Keller in his book "Counterfeit Gods" argues that our inspirations and desires point us to our real god, and then says most people live religious lives serving things that are not God (as defined by protestant Christianity). I see his point, but I tend to differ in my conclusion.

Those things that inspire us are not counterfeit gods, but are aspects of the unique way one God is reflecting him/herself into the world through us. While God is not the actual thing (like golf), he/she is behind it, through it, in it.  The reason we get so much satisfaction from some things isn't because we are rebelliously replacing God with them, but because these things are the vehicles that bring us closer to our true self that is found transparently in our Maker. They are our spiritual connections. It's not that we go too deep into them, its that we don't go deep enough to be at one with the mind behind them. It's easier to see this in things like surfing, hiking, gardening, or music, but it is in all things. This is prayer. Surprised? Relieved?

This changes prayer from a vertical or external conversation with something "out there" to an all encompassing deeper expression of ourselves that receives an outpouring of spirit for the purposes of bettering the world. As Richard Rohr says, we don't pray "to" God as much as we pray "through" God. Again, this is not the same as saying we are God. It is saying that we need not go outside ourselves into externals, rituals, religions, to find God, though they can be vehicles to access God. The kingdom of God is among us. Within us. We are clay pots carrying an amazing treasure-inside. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Prayer then is the collision or intersection between our life and our God. Thus it is impossible to talk to ourself. The conversation in our head has an audience, and its purpose is to change us and our world. It starts with our passions and ends far beyond them.

The next time you are aware of the voice in your head, pause for a minute and consider that it may not be you.