The Futility of Prayers

The great philosopher Epicurus once said and I quote, " It is a folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself. " Most philosophers promoted the idea of thinking critically, which was an essential part of philosophy. As an agnostic atheist I don’t know if a god does exist but the idea of prayers has always been a futile exercise in my opinion.

Since a very young age I would see many people around me would praying day and night for every thing that they ever desired. The irony was that they believed that by some miracle their prayers would be answered. Instead of working themselves, like any diligent man should do get out of the pit of despair their indolence has created in the first place, they would waste away praying and believing that God would answer their prayers and that's what bacame truly appalling to me about religion.

Religion had its lustrous presence and in many ways I was always attracted to many of them. They taught me many lessons of morality and had beautiful poetry in them that would soothe my soul and spiritually enrich my mind, but that's not all they taught me. They also taught me intolerance and the Gods might and control over my very soul and thoughts but worse of all it taught me that anybody who doesn't believe in what I believe in is eventually wrong. In my teenage years I read all I could about religion and came to the conclusion that many of them very a basic propaganda, to help mankind band together in the times that they were made for.

Biology has taught us that mankind couldn't exist without hierarchy and for most humans, at the top of that hierarchy has been an invisible protector. This protector was in turn protected by its followers, often superseding the very values that protector claimed to instill. All these chaotic thoughts took place in my mind until enlightenment came to me, that maybe there was nobody up at the top. Maybe all we were fighting for is our own beliefs in our own hierarchy.

So the answer I started seeking was that if it was really true that there was no one at the top then who and why were all these people praying for, the answer to which came to me in just one word and that word was 'Succour' . People relied on God for making everything better often forgetting that they themselves had the power to truly do things and turn their conditions around. Praying became a futile exercise in my view as it was doing nothing if not turning men into helpless beings who believed someone can do all their works for them and all will be well if they just had faith.

I post this message because I want the people to discuss that if prayers really are helpful, or are they, in the end, just vain?

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