Spiritual Addiction

There are certain chemical substances, which are said to be addictive due to the effects they tend to produce in the person who ingest them. Yet, chemical substances are not the only causes of addiction in a person. Relief is a powerful drug. The strongest form of relief someone can experiences comes from thinking that all her problems are not longer dependent on her to be fixed. Religion, through prayers, presents the gateway to such relief. When one prays, one has the sensation that god, whomever she might be if she in fact exists, will take care of everything. This raises the question of whether prayers are an addiction. I am afraid so.
From the early stages of childhood until death is eminent, one always prays. When a child has started to talk, her parents want to accelerate the process of teaching her how to pray. It is at this time that the “addictive item” is introduced to the child. The child is told that in case of fear of any kind a prayer will prevent such fear from growing, in fact, it will rather decrease it. The child quickly learns this information; and, as she grows old, she starts to make us of the prayer in a different way. If it should occur that she finds herself in trouble, then she prays in order for this god figure to intervene in someway to preclude her parents from inflicting any punishment in her as a result of her wrong doings.
A pattern can be observed with as time passes by. The child then prays for insignificant things. She prays for her mom to cook her favorite meal and so that her chores are reduced. She also prays so that she might be allowed to go to bed at a later hour. She prays not to go to school, but she also prays not to fail her classes. The child also prays not become ill. As the years grow old, what the parents have installed in her, as what they thought was a good custom; such practice has become part of the addiction her parents share.
Throughout her adolescence, she prays to graduate from high school with a good academic standing so that she might be admitted in the college of her choice, which she then repeats in college. In early adulthood, she prays to find her perfect job, and the perfect life partner. She prays for her children to be good and successful people as well as for their health. As she grows older, prayer becomes her only way source of better expectations. She has by then internalized the idea of an afterlife. She wishes to achieve the pure spiritual state that would allow her to go to heaven. She prays to be forgiven for whatever mistakes she made in order to be worthy of entrance. However, while she waits for the moment of her death, she prays in hopes of recuperating her health.
The life of constant prayer does not seem reasonable. Prayer is something immaterial to which a person recurs in order to decrease or nullify afflictions. There are perfectly possible material ways in which one could fix those problems that cause one to pray desperately. A simple study time everyday could, for example, increase the chances of passing the class for which the child prays not to fail. In the same way, leading a healthy life could, for the most part, reduce the chances of becoming terribly ill in which case there will be not any need for frantic praying nights to be healthy again.
Nonetheless, it is always easier to pray, than to act accordingly in order to prevent circumstances where the need to pray is found. Prayers become life long addiction, one that is socially acceptable because prayers do not harm anyone, from a physical perspective. The harm the addiction inflicts is mental since the person praying can become so deeply involved that reality is not longer correct from that person’s point of view. The world is and its inhabitants are incompetent. All her possibilities become limited to what a prayer can do.
Prayers are only a way to help hopeless people feel better about their wrong doings, or those things they cannot mend. However, even though people have been praying for thousands of years, there has been little change in the world. And, the change that has been experienced has been achieved through action. So, do you pray or do you act?


xoxo,
Poison Drops


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