Leo D.M.J. Aurini - March 29, 2015


Aurini's Insight： On Prayer


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

114.67452

Word count

1,882

Sentence count

90

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

17

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Prayer and Feminism: How do we square this circle? Is it possible to pray for a man when the gods are both powerless and omniscient? Or should we pray for the gift of not fearing any of these things, or of not feeling grief for any of them?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm
00:00:02.880 Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Mhm Hello
00:00:06.480 So everyone, everyone
00:00:08.960 I can be here and welcome the
00:00:17.740 This requested video comes from Shane, who asks that I cover the topic of prayer.
00:00:37.340 This is a really interesting question, especially with the present-day situation we find ourselves
00:00:44.340 in, the spiritual crisis of Western civilization.
00:00:48.580 For one thing, there's the increasing feminization of the church.
00:00:53.660 Now this has been a problem going back centuries, it's not a new problem in Christianity, but
00:00:59.060 it's really coming to a head now, with most Christian denominations embracing feminism
00:01:04.300 overtly or tacitly, and the simple fact of the matter is the last time any of you likely
00:01:10.860 said the word prayer, you are referencing Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Love, Pray, which was
00:01:17.780 all about her reneging on her wedding vows to go to the third world and to blow all the 0.92
00:01:23.480 family money having a bunch of sexual escapades with a man who, ultimately, only wanted citizenship
00:01:29.820 out of her.
00:01:32.160 And the fact that this book is being promoted in the mainstream as some sort of positive
00:01:36.800 force is just absolutely laughable.
00:01:41.560 It's not only our society that has abandoned manly institutions and inducting young boys 1.00
00:01:49.080 into manhood, but even our churches have done the same thing.
00:01:54.440 So talking about prayer for a man from a masculine perspective is a very challenging thing to do.
00:02:03.300 The other reason it's challenging is simply modern skepticism, modern rationality.
00:02:09.440 To put it simply, the idea of praying to God, a God that is omnipotent and omniscient,
00:02:18.180 it almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn't it?
00:02:23.060 I mean, you're going to bother the ruler of the universe with your petty desires and your petty problems,
00:02:30.300 and you're going to ask that he pulls the strings to give you what you want?
00:02:34.440 You know, it seems beneath us.
00:02:38.440 It seems childish, like astrology.
00:02:44.440 And yet that modern skepticism, that modern rationalism is anything but modern.
00:02:52.240 This is not a new objection to prayer.
00:02:55.040 This is something that goes back millennia. 0.97
00:02:59.040 People a thousand or two thousand or even three thousand years ago were not as foolish 0.95
00:03:05.680 as we seem to think nowadays.
00:03:08.080 And so a good place to start this video off would be by quoting Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor
00:03:15.820 and Stoic philosopher, his thoughts on prayer.
00:03:24.600 The gods are either powerless or powerful.
00:03:29.040 If they are powerless, why do you pray?
00:03:32.280 But if they are powerful, why not rather pray for the gift of not fearing any of these things,
00:03:39.580 or of not desiring any of them, or of not feeling grief for any of them, rather than that any
00:03:46.160 one of them should be absent or present.
00:03:50.240 For surely, if the gods can cooperate with humans, they can cooperate to these ends.
00:03:56.320 But perhaps you will say, the gods put these things in my power.
00:04:01.520 And is it not better to use what is in your power with a free spirit, than to be concerned
00:04:06.300 with what is not in your power in a spirit of slavery and objection?
00:04:11.760 And who said to you that the gods did not cooperate with us, even in relation to things in our
00:04:17.260 power?
00:04:20.260 Begin at least to pray about these things and you will see.
00:04:24.820 This man prays, how may I sleep with that woman? 1.00
00:04:29.280 You should pray, how may I not desire to sleep with that woman? 1.00
00:04:35.700 Another prays, how may I not lose my child?
00:04:40.280 You should pray, how may I not be afraid of losing him?
00:04:46.420 Turn your prayers around in this way and observe what happens.
00:04:50.680 And of course that's from his meditations. 0.86
00:04:56.280 So this self-awareness of how ridiculous and absurd prayer is, is not a new thing. 0.84
00:05:03.700 This isn't something we just figured out in the past century, it goes back millennia. 0.97
00:05:08.280 Ever since there's been religion, this understanding of the foolishness of praying is there. 0.94
00:05:16.700 Either God already has a plan for the universe, so praying is pointless, or he is going to 1.00
00:05:24.460 listen to your prayers, in which case you are this desperate, pathetic slave begging him 1.00
00:05:29.500 for favors. 1.00
00:05:31.120 Both of these seem patently absurd.
00:05:35.060 They completely go against the principles of autonomy, of self-mastery that's involved in being a man.
00:05:43.340 And yet, and yet, most of the great men in history, if not all of the great men, have prayed.
00:05:54.500 They have, many, many of them have been faithful.
00:05:58.980 So how do we square this circle?
00:06:04.400 How do we make sense of all of this?
00:06:07.480 What exactly are we doing when we pray?
00:06:16.360 Well, on the very surface of things, if you are engaged in an honest prayer, and this isn't
00:06:24.680 even in the Christian tradition, or the Catholic tradition, but just even for an atheist.
00:06:30.100 In fact, I think it might elucidate this better if we imagine an atheist praying, not to a God 0.56
00:06:38.180 that they believe in, but to a principle of virtue, of ethics, of beauty, that they adhere to.
00:06:46.180 So when this atheist prays, what are they doing? 1.00
00:06:49.280 Well, first of all, they are being honest with themselves.
00:06:56.700 If they start off by praying for other people, you know, I pray that this person manages to see wisdom,
00:07:04.500 stops engaging in foolish behavior, stops pursuing folly.
00:07:09.300 I pray that this person, that the best happens to them, that they see the light,
00:07:15.860 they see what they're doing is wrong, and that they become a better person.
00:07:23.600 The very first thing that goes through that man's head is, who am I to say what is right for them?
00:07:30.760 I may be very educated, very erudite, but for me to pray, even metaphorically, to a God I don't believe in,
00:07:39.040 to a principle that I hold, but I don't believe can influence the universe.
00:07:44.340 By praying for this other person's salvation, aren't I saying that I have the keys to salvation? 0.99
00:07:52.760 How arrogant and foolish of me to do that. 0.97
00:08:00.000 And then there's the other type of prayer, not for others, but for the self. 0.98
00:08:04.760 Because here's the interesting thing about the Christian Bible, is, yes, certainly it says you should pray for others,
00:08:12.460 for their well-being, but it also tells you to pray for selfish things, to pray for what you want. 0.89
00:08:21.340 I mean, how ridiculous is this?
00:08:22.680 This book, which is about this grand scheme of the universe, this author that created the basic virtues of reality, 0.68
00:08:33.560 that created man and woman, wants us to pray for our petty little problems, 0.97
00:08:40.300 our little wants and needs, our hungers and thirsts.
00:08:45.100 And it's right in there that we are supposed to pray for these things.
00:08:50.300 And so even, again, you take the atheist, who is praying to a God he does not believe in.
00:08:55.860 Alan Moore, for instance, praying to his imaginary snake God.
00:08:59.180 And by praying for the things that you actually desire, your selfish desires, it puts them out there.
00:09:09.120 It makes you see them.
00:09:11.200 The whole act of prayer, both praying for other people and praying for yourself,
00:09:15.980 it puts your selfish desires out there where you can see them and where you can acknowledge them.
00:09:22.480 It forces you to do it in a manner that is deeply shameful.
00:09:29.440 Admitting your private desires, admitting the arrogance that you think you know how other people need to live their lives.
00:09:35.420 You know, it's easy to gossip and criticize somebody when you're sitting with your maid at the pub. 0.90
00:09:40.380 But when you're going in front of God, if you're going in front of the ultimate truth and making these statements,
00:09:48.580 suddenly you realize how petty and small you are.
00:09:53.800 That arrogance is incredibly obvious.
00:09:58.360 And the exact same thing for your personal desires.
00:10:01.360 You realize that, no, you're not some sort of righteous philosopher king that's just dictating truth
00:10:09.400 because of how well-read you are and how knowledgeable you are about everything.
00:10:13.540 No. 0.99
00:10:15.140 You're just another meat sack. 1.00
00:10:18.220 You're just another silly human going around, subject to time, wants and needs, hungers and thirsts and lusts, 1.00
00:10:24.980 that you try and sate. 0.99
00:10:27.380 And it makes you admit what all of these things are.
00:10:29.820 Praying puts your own consciousness on the table for you to see.
00:10:37.700 It forces you to be honest with yourself.
00:10:47.260 A lot of this has to do with thankfulness as well.
00:10:50.960 Because this is the third type of prayer that everybody should be making,
00:10:56.540 is the prayer of thankfulness.
00:10:59.820 Now, if you want proof that humans are different than any other animal,
00:11:04.900 that humans are unique, that we have this thing called free will,
00:11:09.720 just look at gratitude.
00:11:12.120 Any other animal on the planet, if you do something nice for it, it appreciates it.
00:11:18.000 The higher mammals, you know, dogs and, yes, cats, despite all the jokes, cats.
00:11:24.160 If you give them food, they will give you lifelong loyalty.
00:11:29.200 But even the lesser creatures, exotic pets such as snakes and spiders,
00:11:34.600 those creatures, those creatures, by being fed by you, will start to imitate humans,
00:11:42.680 the higher qualities that exist in human beings.
00:11:45.700 It's never perfect with these creatures, and they can always revert back to their pure,
00:11:50.680 pure lizard, pure animal nature at any time.
00:11:54.980 But you still see this, this reciprocity that exists throughout the animal kingdom,
00:12:01.160 but is largely absent amongst humanity.
00:12:05.420 Man is the only animal that bites the hand that feeds it.
00:12:11.880 If you do something nice for another person,
00:12:14.700 it is almost guaranteed, nine times out of ten,
00:12:19.200 that they will feel resentment.
00:12:20.500 And if you're honest with yourself,
00:12:24.940 anytime somebody does do something kind or charitable to you,
00:12:30.320 your own heart is filled with resentment.
00:12:34.680 And so by engaging in prayer and thanking God,
00:12:40.820 thanking the universe,
00:12:42.980 thanking the unconscious universe
00:12:44.800 for being this being that can feel pleasure,
00:12:49.220 that can appreciate beauty,
00:12:50.680 that can acquire knowledge,
00:12:52.580 being thankful for the things you have in life,
00:12:55.920 combined with the humbleness
00:12:58.600 that comes from acknowledging your base desires
00:13:01.400 and acknowledging that you really don't know
00:13:04.380 how everybody else needs to lead their lives.
00:13:07.560 These three things together
00:13:09.260 are why prayer is so important.
00:13:12.600 It grounds you in reality.
00:13:15.780 It prevents you from going off half-cocked
00:13:18.400 and arrogantly trying to dictate to the universe
00:13:20.700 how it should be.
00:13:22.200 It puts you in your place.
00:13:24.700 And we all need to be put in our places
00:13:26.500 because we think far too highly of ourselves
00:13:29.240 based upon our past behavior.
00:13:32.520 And ultimately,
00:13:34.220 this honesty and humbleness
00:13:36.540 will hopefully propel you
00:13:39.220 into becoming a better person.
00:13:42.600 who's a little bit less flawed,
00:13:44.680 who's a little bit kinder
00:13:46.540 and more decent to your fellow man,
00:13:48.460 and who's a little bit more hardworking.
00:13:51.640 Because as St. Augustine would say,
00:13:54.780 prayers of everything dependent upon God
00:13:58.920 work like everything dependent upon you.
00:14:02.320 So, folks,
00:14:05.780 this is the end of the video.
00:14:07.460 I'm going to finish off with a few slides
00:14:09.680 of different prayers
00:14:11.280 that might inspire you.
00:14:14.980 And it's something I invite
00:14:16.360 everyone to think about
00:14:18.080 because, as I said,
00:14:20.260 most of the great men in history
00:14:21.940 have prayed.
00:14:22.700 And just because our society
00:14:25.140 and our church
00:14:26.220 is fallen and corrupt
00:14:28.540 does not mean that we have any excuses
00:14:31.960 for being the same.
00:14:34.360 Burrini out.
00:14:52.700 Thank you.
00:15:22.700 Thank you.
00:15:52.700 Thank you.
00:16:22.700 Thank you.