Unraveling the Complexity of Prayer
Finding peace amidst the uncertainty of life’s challenges.
Bob Olson is a former skeptic and private eye who has investigated life after death for 27 years. He shares meaningful stories to expand minds, comfort grief, and uplift souls. He’s the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and founder of BestPsychicDirectory.com.
In all my years investigating the afterlife, the evidence I’ve gathered from people who have had near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences, messages from people in spirit through mediums, and even dream visitations, the people talked about the love they received from prayers. ~ Bob Olson
As I write this, my mother is undergoing surgery, so it’s natural to want to pray for her. It’s interesting because, despite all that I’ve experienced and learned in my lifetime about the afterlife, spirits, spirit communication, and spirit life, I found myself struggling this morning to pray.
Look, praying is easy. It’s always best not to complicate spiritual practices. Where I tripped up was in knowing what to pray for—my spiritual knowledge (knowing) seems to be more of a hindrance than a help.
If you remember my article about a Los Angeles carjacking that discussed the concept of luck, you might recall that when we begin to think about luck at a deeper level, we find ourselves in a bit of a puzzle. At the end of that piece, I write:
So, was I lucky or unlucky? We can ask ourselves these questions all day long.
Was I lucky that I beat my illness, or unlucky that I got sick in the first place?
Was I lucky to win at the casino or unlucky to get robbed in the parking lot?
Was I lucky to have survived the plane crash, or was I unlucky the plane crashed at all?
Was I lucky that my team won, or was the other team unlucky that they lost? And what does that mean when my team loses tomorrow? Does luck change from day to day, hour to hour, or minute to minute?
What if this is not a matter of luck at all? What if this is simply a matter of experiencing life, knowing that good and bad things will happen, and moving forward in the best way possible without giving the incident a label or placing responsibility for it anywhere or on anyone?
This morning, I found myself in a similar dialogue with myself regarding prayer.