Emerson writes prayer is a weakness of the will. I guess he's right. I pray when I'm feeling weak. Inept. I think pagans prayed when they were feeling strong. Victorious. God-like. Contemporary people pray when desperate—
Both extremes seem false to me. Pagan triumphalism and hyper-modern atrophy.
But I have no access to what prayer is like in the middle point, which I guess would be the monotheistic religions. I have no form for that, really. No practice in it. And frankly, no desire to learn. I never have. In other words, I don't know how to pray, and I don't know what prayer would mean. Prayer would mean prayer seems either outdated, outmoded, or out of my league.
I think this is the beginning of my prayer.