Prayer itself generates a heightened sense of awareness, which affects our daily conduct, and our ability to be self-disciplined and remain true to our ideals. That’s why the ideal time for prayer is first thing in the morning.
In the struggle between the Divine and the animalistic within us, one of the most crucial battlegrounds is the arena of meditative prayer. Often dismissed as a pastime reserved for the religiously devout, prayer is so central to healthy spirituality and the conquering of the human condition that it alone can be the deciding factor that tips the scales one way or another. Ignoring this mysterious practice, or even approaching it in the wrong way, casts a long shadow of doubt on our ability to grow spiritually at all.
Central to any spiritual ideology is the goal of becoming more aware. Prayer, simply speaking, means that we take some time out of our day to meditate about who we are, where we come from, who created us, and for what purpose we are alive. The goal is to get our priorities straight, and then live life according to these ideals – without succumbing to the dictates of societal pressures, material necessity or passing temptations.
Prayer itself generates a heightened sense of awareness, which affects our daily conduct, and our ability to be self-disciplined and remain true to our ideals. That’s why the ideal time for prayer is first thing in the morning. The morning is a seed that grows and dictates what the day ahead will look like; how we spend our mornings is a statement about what is important in our lives. When we start the day focused on the transcendent, zeroing in on the Divine and the purpose of existence, then that focus is transplanted into our daily activities. We become kinder, more sensitive and more spiritually aware throughout the day. Our pursuit of material gain and pleasure suddenly take a back seat to the quest for truth and spiritual enlightenment. We become focused on what is truly important – helping others, spending time with family, being good to ourselves, and gaining wisdom.
Granted, effective prayer requires a conscious investment of the self, and cannot be accomplished by mumbling the words by rote. Aside from the fact that we insult G-d (and ourselves) by making light of our relationship, if the meditative aspect of prayer is missing, then the entire activity actually becomes destructive. Instead of achieving a higher level of awareness and refinement, this type of prayer actually causes us to be less aware and less refined, since we start off the day by making a statement that spirituality is not important – we’ve got more important things to do (gotta get to work, ya know). And so the day – and life – that follows becomes a haze of mixed priorities and missed opportunities.
Meditative prayer is, in a sense, the root of all kindness and spiritual activism. When we pray thoughtfully, we are being good to ourselves by amplifying the role of the soul in our lives, which helps us overcome challenges and sets our priorities straight by making spirituality the focus of life. This helps us live more peaceful, meaningful and fulfilling lives, improving our own lives and those of the people around us, and, by extension, the entire world.
Reprinted with permission from Exodus Magazine