b124 (6.7-1.2025): praying man-tis

praying man-tis

by ima praying mantis
 
my mom told me to pray
she never told me why
i think of her (today), and take a deep breath (and sigh)
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 why don’t we call prayer what it is?  

it’s us, asking for something that we want.

·       when she was alive, my mother prayed daily, and (whenever she could), she told me to pray.
·       she never told me why an Omniscient, Omnificent, Omnipresent, Omnibenevolent God would want us to pray (or need for us to pray).
·       god already knows what’s best for each of us, so praying won’t help there.
·       god made us mortal, and gave us free will, so our lives are going to play out the way that they’ll play out.
·       god knows our thoughts (he sees us when we’re sleeping and he knows when we’re awake), so (essentially) our thoughts are prayers.

·       god doesn’t have an ego (?) so he wouldn’t need us to beg.
·       god doesn’t get involved.
·       but wait… he does get involved (sometimes).  when the baby gets saved in the tornado? god’s hand.  when the other baby dies in the tornado?  everything happens for a reason.
·       but wait… he does have an ego.  the fact that he is a ‘he’ proves that.

but wait… when prayer doesn’t work (e.g. when we don’t get what we want), god gets a free pass (because he knows what is best for us, and he works in mysterious ways, and we could never understand the mind of god).  well, except for knowing what he wants us to do (e.g. pray).
 

as it turns out, my mother made some of the rules up.  

she believed what she’d heard, 

and she modified those beliefs based upon her earthly observations.  

my mother was born-and-raised staunch-catholic,

she lived (with no internet) from 1931-2013,   

she never drove a car, and literally lived over 95% of her life 

within an area half the size of a football field!!  

 
man-made gods are made in the image of man.  man-made gods have egos, they want their churches to have money, and they are very good at control (“do ___ or die.”  “believe, or go to hell.”).
 
all of the inconsistencies (e.g. an All-Loving god would kill innocent babies in a flood) make no sense – until we realize that the stories were told (and sung) and re-told (again and again) and written and re-written and edited re-edited and translated... by men! 
 
stories change.  the stories of the holy books morph as those in power dictate.  think about the people who want you to believe what they believe.  truth is, life is better for them if you believe what they want.
 
shall i pray to an invisible man-in-the-sky because my team needs a field-goal to win? 
 
think (pray/Love) again.
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martino, j. (6.7-1.2025). ima praying man-tis. book 124: individuation. © 2025 by wellnesseducation.us
 
* let’s not forget that the mantis hands are in position, praying for prey.