Be Better than Prayer, you can be and often are!

"A problem shared is a problem halved".  That "wisdom" brainwashes us all.  Maybe that is what is helping us.  Maybe our belief in it is what calms us not the actual sharing.  Maybe it depends on the person and the circumstances.

Remember that writing down your problem in detail can make you feel more encouraged to deal with it and have greater hope of getting through it too. You don't have to share it with anybody else. Nor do you have to think the problem really is halved. It can look 80% now when it looked 100% before and that is good. It is not good because you feel better.  But because you are forming answers.  Nobody you share the problem with can experience it or the repercussions like you will. So telling another person in itself does not change that or really halve the problem. It only makes you feel you have taken action and will not let yourself be beaten down.  Practical help cannot happen without telling somebody.

It is the practical that matters not the telling as such except in so far as it is about practical.

So is not true that any problem is halved when you talk about it to somebody and that includes God.  You just feel different about it.  It is like talking about it makes it seem different.  But it is not really different.  Why and how the brain does this is a mystery. It is clear that a lot of the relief is a trick played on you by the brain.  That can have its dangers.  You might stop seeing the problems correctly to fix them.

If the problem is sickness we see the danger here.  If the problem is how are being hurt by somebody or hurting them then failing to see the full badness of this only delays you in dealing with it or stops you doing your best to halt it.  It takes a bit of work to keep seeing that the problem is still a problem.  Your perception that it is not as bad can do you harm.  It is downright disgraceful if your worry is about another who needs you to be accurate to help them.

Talking about the problem is a placebo.  So is praying about it.

You can’t always have somebody to talk to. Talking to another person about your problems is important. It helps make your thinking clearer. It makes you think of trying some possible solutions. You don’t feel so alone. You feel supported. Even if you talk to a fantasy friend in your head it helps. Prayer is talking to a fantasy friend. Prayer in itself does not help - it is the role-playing

If we talk to others about our problems that is understandable.  They exist.  But to talk to God is disgraceful for there is a risk and you are taking it for a being who may not be real.  And why God and not the fairy in the well?  That is what you are risking yourself to develop a placebo or part placebo for!

I do not need to pray. I just have to wish good on the world and those who inhabit it. That changes me into a better person and if it doesn’t it will at least not let me get any worse. Only then will my wish get a chance to make a difference in the world.

Why am I not just wishing good on others and letting that change me?  Why am I praying?  I just don't trust myself to be good unless a god helps me.  That is negative and dangerous.

If God is creator then God alone really matters which makes prayer the most important activity of all. It is really the only thing that matters.  But we admire the person who acts as if prayer will not help the other person and who does all they can for them. That shows how hypocritical our praying is.

Any time you hear of somebody having a problem make a wish that the problem didn’t happen and that as it has it will be mended. This is not magical. It is you resolving to be better than the way things are. It is siding with the person even against the universe or any God that might exist. Always think compassionate thoughts for compassion is the chief virtue. Wish people well but do not insult them by praying for them. Wishing them well is not praying for them. Prayer is accepting the way things happen - wishing is opposing it.

You are your own God. You answer your own prayers. If you do good just because you can and because you want to your potential for inner health will grow and wealth cannot buy that.  God does not need a commander so you are your own God for you do not need a commander either.  You do not need a Church. If people didn’t attend Church or support it financially there would be no Church to do harm.

Most of us live happy and fruitful lives without thinking of prayer and religion very much. So we don't need them. Religion is a problem. There are problems and there are solutions. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. Solve the problem of religion by ceasing to be a part of it. Be a member of the human family seeing all people as brothers and sisters. Do not limit yourself by thinking you need a religion.

Somebody is very ill. What matters? Is it wishing and hoping they will get well? Or is it praying for them? Praying for them is pointless if you don’t want them to get well. So your good wishes are what matters. If a choice is forced on you - good wishes or prayer what do you choose? The good wishes. To say that God alone matters or even comes first is simply to implicitly insult the sick people.