Prayer as ‘Attention’ and not ‘Petition’

Prayer as ‘Attention’ and not ‘Petition’

What is Prayer? How can Prayer transform us into purified beings? Allow me to share a few reflections from Iris Murdoch’s “The Sovereignty of Good”. Mary Warnock writes about her that “the project of founding morality not on changing human needs or wishes but on an immutable and absolute idea of goodness has been critical to her thought”. Before appreciating some reflections on “prayer”, we need to comprehend a few issues beforehand.
In her reply to modern western “will” centric morality dominated by Kant and Existentialists, Murdoch says that it rests upon an incorrect estimation of the self. Murdoch points out that Modern Psychology has re-emphasised what Traditional thought maintains as the “fall of man”. This concept is extremely crucial to understand any possible successful ethic for man. Modern Psychology primarily through Freud’s work displayed the pessimistic side of man (otherwise posited as the champion of reason and progress by enlightenment thought) by digging deeper into his psyche. Freud discovered (as Dostoyevsky had already stressed earlier) that deep down in man, “fantasy” is stronger than “reason”. Objectivity and unselfishness do not come naturally to human beings.
Why do human beings display greed? Why does a human being act out arrogantly? Why does he wish to dominate others? Although each of these dimensions alludes to deeper realities but in general what these tendencies signify is the “fallen” state of being. “Fallen” from what? The fall of man from heavenly realm to earthly plane as described in the story of Adam and Eve.
Quran alludes to this fallen state of man at various places through different terms such as: zalooman jahoolaa (unjust and foolish), katooraa (self obsessed/ uncharitable), fakhoor (proud/ arrogant), ajool (hasty), hubbil khairi la’shadeed (extreme want for pleasure). Although one also needs to mention about the human “spirit” which is deeper than his “psyche” that remains untouched by sin/ fall and is responsible for the ascent of man. But it is to be recovered from the midst of these chaotic earth centric tendencies. Quran mentions both of these aspects of man when read in totality. This human disposition of being stingy, arrogant, self obsessed, dominating is what showcases our fallen state. Therefore, Murdoch says that the self rather than being mere undirected freedom (of existentialists) is an obscure and chaotic “system of energies” out of which choices and visible acts emerge. Thus Murdoch says that the task of moral philosophy is not to outline maxims and moral rules/ duties as Kant would have it but rather we need techniques of “purification” and “reorientation” of this chaotic energy (referred to as tazkiya in the Quran).
One such technique employed by Tradition since time immemorial is “Prayer”. What is Prayer, asks Murdoch. “More than a petition, prayer in fact is attention”. What does attention in prayer do? And attention towards what? To answer these questions, Murdoch gives a few examples. Let me share one for illustration. Suppose someone is in love but it is not working out for him/ her. Can someone go to that person and say that “oh, it is too easy to solve this issue. You simply just will to not love him/her”. Here one can clearly see that mere “will” has little role to play in human dynamics. This is the reason Murdoch heavily criticises rationalistic, analytic and existential moral systems for being too naïve, overly optimistic, and unambitious. “An authentic mode of existence is presented as attainable by intelligence and force of will. Such attitudes contrast with traditional notions of goodness, virtue and purification of self, a discipline which is considered quite difficult to attain”.
Coming back to our example: what is the possible solution for that particular person who simply cannot “will” not to love someone? Rather than stressing on “shallowly known will”, what can be done is a reorientation of energy. We will see that particular person will stop loving him/ her if he/she falls in love with something else/ some other object. This reorientation of energy is what prayer does; from man to God. When one constantly goes back to God, the source of all Good, one’s energies are transformed into good. Thus Murdoch says that modern western moral philosophy has wrongly emphasised on the “right thing to do” rather than “good to be”. One has to “become” good. Prayer brings about a transformation of self obsessive energy to loving/ giving energy radiating from God. This aspect has been deliberated upon by others as well. Like Allama Iqbal in his Reconstruction lectures equates Prayer with reflection and assimilation, thus rising above mere conception of God to direct intimate knowledge. All acts of seeking knowledge (seeking the “other”) are forms of Prayer. Prayer displays man’s yearning for “the other”. As Frithjof Schuon, the 20th century metaphysician, says that the “contemplative” prayer is assimilation of man back to his source, God, the absolute.
Many lessons can be learnt from this. But one of the most important of them all is that when we encounter selfish, terrible, pathetic, attitudes from people around, we may develop a little more tolerance/ understanding only if we remember that this is expected from a creature who is in his “fallen” state. Man is going to express these tendencies which are inherent in his system of energies. He is going to be jahool, katoor, fakhoor, ajool and what not. That is why prayer for everyone attains immense importance for a good life. This lesson can makes us a little more understanding when it comes to others. Each human being is an extremely complex cyclone of energies/ consciousness intertwined with karma/ memory of acts which his body and soul collects and it is God who has created people, so we need to be ready to witness different kinds of havoc wrecking around. We may not be able to control others (and neither should we, in fact this wish to “selfishly” control life/ people/ situations creates psychological trouble/ anxiety/ distress for people for standing against God/ reality but we need to ensure that our inner state of calm attains a certain equilibrium and stability because ultimately our mode of being stems from within us rather than from outside.

[email protected]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.