Prayer Beads In Religion

Although religions today take on many shapes and forms, and may seem so dramatically different from each other, in order to study and understand these religions, their similarities must be identified. This paper will first present a definition of religion that will connect to all religions at the simplest base. Then this paper will examine the common practices and experiences that are present in both the primary religions of the world, as well as the indigenous religions. Finally, this paper will discuss the issues that are critical to the academic study of religions.

Rituals and rites are required in almost all religions because they hold meanings spiritually and emotionally. Reaffirming faith and practicing traditions are important parts of adherents' personal and religious life. Christian sacrament and Jewish rituals are derived from their religious stories and histories that represent symbolic stories of the origin and their sacred destiny (Esposito, 18) yet Judaism hold means of obedience to and gratitude for God, whereas Christianity is accepts "divine grace or aid through the incarnation of God" (Esposito, 23). Christians and Jews have religious expressions that have a beginning and an end (Esposito, 22) which corresponds with their rituals and rites providing the "assistance through every stage of life, from birth to death" (Esposito, 180).

Within many known religions, the devotional practices has been known to acquire great importance. The essence of practicing what you preach has scolded many religious groups, introducing true beliefs, righteousness, and a wider connection to the supreme being . In the book entitled “ Living religions” by Mary Pat Fisher, clarified and firm descriptions were introduced about religious rituals. Surprisingly; the author utilized small parts of modern concepts, limiting the reader from a full comprehension of religious practices today, therefore; I will only discuss the basic and traditional rituals. To elaborate; in this paper, I will be providing an opinionated but also, comparative description of the major practices and rituals that undergo in both the Abrahamic and indigenous religions.

The use of peyote is central to the Native American peyote religion. In Peyote Religion most formal ceremonies mix drumming, singing, prayer, and stories as a means of offering thanks and as a way of sharing this blessing with the Creator. Deeply meaningful and highly personalized inspirational revelation is often a very important part of the individual's experience. Participants in such peyote "meetings" often grow in empathy and in friendship with the people who have shared the peyote night with them. Lifelong associations are made in this way.

In (Matthew 6:6 NIV), Jesus explains the merits of praying to the lord God and the reward of inner peace, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret: and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” It is through this conversation with God that Christians pursue peace in their lives. Prayer can either be private or communal, spontaneous prayer is one way that charismatic communities can come closer to God. The act of prayer allows believers to have a personal conversation with God; it alleviates stress attributed to the monotony of everyday life. Besides prayer, meditation is another way of attaining inner peace, it is an ancient practice within the Christian tradition, which has undertaken a recent revival, a global group that reaffirms the concept of praying and meditating for inner peace is Taizé. Not as popular as prayer and meditation, Lectio Divina, generally known as bible studies is a way for Christians to feel connected to God and to finally attain inner peace. The studying of the sacred scriptures on a day to day basis and reflecting on prayers also maintain a continual connection with God. It is vital to maintain equilibrium between prayer and service, whereby an individual fathoms the notion ‘ora et labora’, in order to equally partake in both prayer, and the concept of action whereby ora develops inner peace, which is mirrored through the

The Spindrift organization spent a decade performing laboratory experiments trying to determine which prayer strategy was most effective: directed prayer for a specific outcome, or non-directed prayer, having no specific outcome. Directed prayer participants tried to “direct” the process of prayer with having an outcome in mind. For example one may wish to rid a person of cancer, or recovering from a heart disease. Non-directed prayer, on the other hand, approach prayer with a more open-ended mind-set, in which no specific outcome was held in mind. Dossey considered that the Spindrift research experiments has given us much evidence to demonstrate that non-directed prayer works better than directing prayer for a specific outcome. The Spindrift researchers tried to grow mould on the surface of agar plates used routinely by bacteriologists. After stressing but not killing a patch of mould, directed prayer was used to encourage growth on one side of the plate while non-directed prayer was used on the other side of the divided glass surface. Directed prayer produced no results. Non-directed prayer produced multiplication of the mould into concentric growth rings. These and other experiments conducted by Spindrift give indications for the best prayer method to use in situations when we don 't know what should happen. When non-directed prayer is answered, the outcome is always in the direction

The women of the Seminole tribes wore necklaces with small, glass beads that varied in color. Some favorite colors were blue(both light and dark) and red. The women of the seminoles didn’t wear just normal necklaces like us, though. Their necklaces sometimes reached a weight of 12 pounds or more, because of the copious amount of beads on the necklace. They wore these necklaces all day, and usually didn’t take them off until they went to sleep. They would store the necklaces in a basket, and they would put them on the next morning, repeating the process. What’s interesting in when a man brought engagement presents to a woman, he would give her several items, including these valuable beads. We give rings...they give beads. After a while, the

A reflection on religious monuments and their implements in their connection to their faith and use of prayer. This reflection uses Christian, Islamic, and Jewish religions as examples of study in the Medieval era.

This “relig-ish tool kit” includes habits and practices often not found, and certainly rarely emphasized, in traditional religion: learning to engage in dialog rather than debate, embracing mystery, fostering creativity, and the establishment of foundational values such as beauty, creativity, compassion, and

The patient is encouraged to focus on the “stream of experience,” and to think of his experiences as “real life,” never questioning what this real means. a) The patient’s feelings, Screwtape says, should be twisted in such a way that he gauges his prayer’s success by the amount which his desired feelings have been fufilled. b) Praying this way destroys real prayer because the patient will begin to see prayer as an

My ancestral background belief is focused on spirituality and prayers hence, this lecture was a reinforcement towards my daily practice of prayers in my life.

On August 31, 1997, The beautiful Princess Diana died from a tragic car accident in Paris, France. The loss was devastating to many around the world and millions of flowers were laid before Buckingham Palace. Her life had changed how royalty was viewed and how media and paparazzi worked, especially in the UK, and that change only sped up after the accident. And just like how society went through a change after Princess Diana's death, Mme. Mathilde Loisel of Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace underwent the change after the death of her current lifestyle. Mme. Loisel had lost a borrowed necklace that had been lent to her for a ball. She and her husband were able to replace it without the owner finding out, but it cost them 10 years of poverty and labor to do so. Mme. Loisel had lost everything, and she came to appreciate what she had, because she didn't have it forever.

An early form of the development of the Rosary in the West started with the recitation by monks of Psalms of David, and Old Testament king. The people would recite them in groups of 50, 100, or maybe even 150. Since most of the lay brothers could not read at the time, they would say the Our Father out loud. When the reciting of the Our Father spread to laypersons, they started to call the strings of the beads they counted the prayers on

When understanding the many beliefs that cultures have, helps grasp an understanding the healing practices a family may have. In today’s society, “religious practices are usually rooted in culture” (Giger and Davidhizas, 2008). Typically each culture has a set of beliefs that they use to explain their health and manners that prevent or treat illnesses and diseases. When a family member is ill, a culture uses rituals to get rid of the disease.

The model of and for becomes more easily identifiable with individual’s worldview as it becomes capable of interacting with ordinary objects. Geertz found that “true symbols” must be capable of “both shaping themselves to reality and themselves shaping it,” ultimately reinforcing the practicality of religious rules in society (Geertz 351). As societal expectations themselves are in a constant state of flux, the duality between model of and model for allows religious symbol and ritual to continue and stay pertinent. When in perilous medical situations, the “devout” would often “convince nurses and orderlies to apply St. Jude’s Holy Oil (Orsi 181).” The physical quality of this symbol allows the devout to easily incorporate models of and for into their daily routine, but most importantly, it allows them to easily incorporate their etho’s holy rituals and spiritual expectations into their worldview.