Old 05-11-2013, 12:52 PM
  # 29 (permalink)  
choublak
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"Prayer" is very subjective. I had to re-learn about prayer because of bad experiences during my upbringing. I went to a strict Catholic school where all the kids were given a book of prayers to memorize and recite, by yourself, in front of the rest of the class. If you messed up and forgot the words, you got your hands smacked with a ruler. Mind you the majority of these prayers were long, like maybe one prayer would be five serenity prayers long. Needless to say, I came to see prayer as the opposite of what it's supposed to be. Rote memorization plus punishment upon punishment for not remembering the words to some long and intricate prayer, the meaning of which you never really learned anyway.

Point being, not everybody has the same idea of prayer. I don't think anybody would say that the "praying" I just described is "essential" to sobriety.
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