Originally Posted by pompousjohn

I am not religious but definitely spiritual, so I guess the question is not for me, and if it was this would VERY likely not be the appropriate forum to discuss it, but I believe there are more planes of reality than what we experience and interact with physically and consciously, and that the universe we perceive with with our bodies both influences and is influenced by the others.

In the same way we are all, as parts of the universe, on a journey to unify ourselves with the other parts.

When I "pray" I am expressing and focusing my will, affirming my intentions to the universe but also opening myself to the universe's intentions at the same time so that hopefully my will and "God's" will can become one, either by casting the one vote needed to change the overall consensus or else allowing my own will to change to better serve the harmony of the universe.

Sometimes this causes amazing things to happen for me. Other times it helps me to focus my intentions and act in a way that make my goals reachable. Yet other times it enables me to deal with and understand situations and events I would have preferred to avoid.

It's entirely possible that without the concept of "God" or "prayer" nothing would happen differently and that all these things could be expressed in purely mundane and secular terms, however that's just the way it works for me.