Do You Think Prayer is a Form of Self-Hypnosis?

It’s more like meditation.

@fireside I’d have said the exact words!

I don’t know what it is but I know when people “feel the holy spirit” and start screaming and acting crazy I call that a form of insanity.

i know nothing about self-hypnosis, so i can’t say

Or auto-suggestion…

@nayeight – that’s not what prayer is to most religions.

As a spiritual but not religious person I would say that I really don’t think that prayer is self hypnosis. The value of prayer is accessing something higher than yourself and self hypnosis is working only with yourself per say.
But I do believe in the possibility that there is a collective consciousness and by praying we are tapping into that and thus accessing the power of those around us.
I must be honest in say though that I do believe in prayer as something answered by a higher power.
No matter how it works I’m just glad it does. And for me, it does work.

@fireside – I didn’t say it was.

That a really good question…I think prayer is having a dialogue with God…You speaking to Him and Him in return communicating with you…whereas I think meditation is when you take those important truths that were communicated to you, and let them sink down into your spirit so they become apart of who you are and the way you think….self hypnosis on the other hand I believe to be about an inward quest apart from God.

awesome question.

yes, i think it is a mix between meditation and hypnosis but weaker in both cases.
i don’t think it’s entirely useless to the human psyche even though the god you are praying to most likely doesn’t exist.

No. Silly question.

For me personally, it varies from meditation to self-hypnosis.

But my mother is a Unitarian so sometimes my ideas are a little off the wall.

It’s going to be different for every person, so for some I suppose they could go about it in a self-hypnotic fashion if that works best. I agree with the above posts that many people may approach it more meditatively.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that prayer is universally equivalent to self-hypnosis or meditation. Supposedly anyone can do it, and in my experience it was neither hypnotizing nor meditative. With that said, I do think that in the right circumstances, prayer can have effects similar to either, but it is neither necessary nor sufficient.

No.

@cdwccrn
What an enlightening response. I’m so glad you took the time to post it.

You’re welcome.

Some say it is the power of God.

If you do not believe in God, it would be more like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

God is a ham sandwich.

Either that or “wishful thinking”.

prayer is talking to your invisible friend.

I would venture to say it’s meditation for who we might consider to be average people. Possibly entering a trance-like state, or hypnosis for more enlightened people, like monks.

@Vinifera7

God is three pounds of flax.

@NaturalMineralWater…And??? Is it a silly question because you’re not supposed to question “God Almighty” and anything related? Because hypnosis is silly??? “No” because the idea of prayer is not a silly concept???

From an outside perspective… a group of people close their eyes, bow their heads, and listen to the words of a leader, repeating them with sincerity in their heads to feel comfort and seek answers. Is it a Nazi war ralley, a KKK meeting, or sunday mass??? I don’t think there is a difference aside from the short-term goals of each group. I think, for some, it is self-hypnosis. Only 6% of the population of the world is highly succeptable to hypnosis, even less to self-hypnosis. For the other 94%, I think prayer is a way to focus on conscious awareness of ones own problems and short-comings while brainstorming possible solutions.

Personally, I think if you’re being led to prayer by someone smarter than you, who accepts a monetary donation from you every week, you’re victimizing yourself with some good old propaganda.

@alossforwords Get ready to duck

@essieness I have a pitchfork of too. It’s called “Wisdom”. :)

I agree with the already made suggestion that it’s more like meditation. When i’m hauled off to a catholic church even though I don’t believe in it, I just quietly bow my head and meditate for an hour..no one would see a difference in my actions from theirs. To them i’m praying, to me i’m meditating.

No