FAITH AND PRAYER

FAITH AND PRAYER

Your Medicine

“If you have notbeen taking your medicine latelyby saying your prayers every day,

how can Hafiz seriously listen to all your heartaches

about life?”

Source: Ladinsky, D. (1997). The Subject Tonight is Love, Pumpkin House Press, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Note: Hafiz is a Persian Sufi Poet.

FAITH AND PRAYER

• Are faith and prayer considered a type of medicine?

• How do faith and prayer work?– Spirituality– Faith– Religion

SPIRITUALITY

• Spirituality is different than religion.• Spirituality deals with relationships

and values.• Spirituality addresses purpose and

meaning in life.• Spirituality brings people together. • Spirituality will not separate people

from each other.

SPIRITUALITY

• A spiritual person does not have loyalty to only one particular group and disregard the others.

• A spiritual person may or may not be a religious person.

• A spiritual person may use the religious ceremonies for enhancement.

SPIRITUALITY

• Spirituality involves:– Individual– Family– Friends– Society

SPIRITUALITY

• Spirituality is involved with different values in life; these values are:– Moral values– Moral beliefs– Meaning of life– Purpose of life– Meaning of death

ADVANTAGES OF SPIRITUALITY

– Strong sense of identity– Increases self – esteem– Search for meaning through

relationships– Feeling of being connected with others– Feeling of fairness and justice to every

one ---community and the world– Feeling of support by a higher source;

it may be called:• Supreme Being• God

HOW WE EXPRESS SPIRITUALITY

• Healthy spirituality is expressed through:– Humor– Compassion– Faith– Forgiveness– Courage– Creativity– Healthy relationship with others– Acceptance of others as they are– Respect for others as they are– Respect for others’ religious beliefs and

values

RELIGION

• Religion is different than spirituality.• A religious person may or may not

follow spirituality. – One example:A religious person may respect and value

other religions.A religious person may consider their

own religion as the best and disregard other religions.

RELIGION

• Further discussion about religion is not appropriate for the purpose of this course.

FAITH• Accept life as it is.• Learn how to live in the

present moment.• See the benefit in every

event.• Trust in beneficial results

regardless of the event.• Our beliefs and expectations

about:– Ourselves– Others– Purpose of life in general

PRAYER

PRAYER

“Wherever there are no limits, where Infinity and Eternity and Immortality exist, that is where God is.”

-Mikhael Aivanhov, the Mystery of Light

PRAYER

• What is Prayer?– The origin of prayer comes from the Latin

word of:• Precarius, which means: “obtained by begging”• Precari , which means : “to entreat” or to ask

earnestly.

– There are different forms of prayer• Asking something for one’s self (petition)• Asking something for others (intercession)• Asking for forgiveness (confession)• Asking for vindication (lamentation)• Asking for honor and praise (adoration)• Summoning the presence of the Almighty

(invocation)• Offering gratitude (thanksgiving)

WHAT IS PRAYER

• There are different ways to pray.• A person may keep repeating

different names of God.• A person may open a simple dialog

with God.• A person may sit simply in a state of

being, communicating with the Absolute.

WHAT IS PRAYER

• Praying is different than meditation.

• Sufi saying:– Praying is talking to God.

(Allah) – Mediation is God (Allah)

talking back to us.

HOW PRAYER WORKS

• No one knows how prayer works. • With advancement in technology, we may

be able to understand it better in the years to come.

• Dr. Larry Dossey has done significant work in the field of medicine and prayer.For more information you may read:

Dossey, L. (1993) Healing Words: The power of Prayer and the practice of medicine (First Edition) Harper Collins: New York, NY 10022.

NURSING AND RESEARCH

• Please read the textbook page 400 - 407 carefully.

• Please do self-assessment about the subject.• Please be aware of your personal feelings and

attitudes in respect to this subject.• Please be sure not to be judgmental;

regardless of what the situation is, or what your patient’s practice or habit is.

• Please remember the art of “listening” and “Tender Loving Care” (TLC), is always a safe method to use.