Learning How to Pray After Finding God, from the perspective of a born again Catholic

I would say that there is such a thing as secular prayer but I wouldn't call it praying given the connotations of that word. Essentially I would describe it as envisioning the way that one would like things to be. Basically the very same thing that praying is without the external target recipient and the miraculous bit. It is the way that our brains work. The first step in making something happen is to envision it happening and in that sense we all do it.I understand that there is a difference between praying and envisioning the future but I think that the impetus for both acts is much the same. I also think that the results can be much the same by virtue of holding a thought in mind. She ain't empty man, shes just really big.There is a large expression of gratefulness and submission in prayer that I can identify with. Some sense of being a babe in the arms of the universe and completely at her mercy. The fact that I am alive at all seems quite miraculous. The vast multitude of fortunate events that have led to this moment seem to call for some element of gratitude. For me, as an atheist, it manifests as a sense of humility but falls short of supplication.

Wasn't he a bit of a shyster?More like some of the elements of the philosophies of Confucius and Schweitzer. That we should pursue right thought and right action. That we experience life as a series of thoughts and so our lives amount to the sum total of our thoughts. Don't read too much into it. Written in the vernacular like we would call a ship a she. The difference between meditation and prayer is that meditation is the act of trying to be as quiet as possible in your thoughts where prayer is sort of the opposite act of being very loud and assertive in your thoughts. Positive thinking is much more like prayer in that sense but the 'certainties' involved are not the same.I am certain that I experience life as a series of thoughts. I am certain that I can, to some extent, decide what it is that I want to think about. I am certain that what I decide to think about today will have an impact on my actions which will impact my future reality. Contrast this with the act of praying under the certainty that there is a God who is listening to you and who will interfere with events on your behalf.I was making the point that having good thoughts can have a positive influence on your reality even if they are under the umbrella of a misconception.