Anam Cara

Prayer and the Voices of Longing

Prayer is the voice of longing; it reaches outwards and inwards to unearth our ancient belonging. Prayer is the bridge between longing and belonging. Longing is always at its most intense in the experience of vulnerability. There is a frightening vulnerability in being a human. Culture and society are utterly adept at masking this. Humans behave generally as if the world belongs to them. They exercise their roles with such seriousness. Life is guided by rules of action and power. Some people gain a certain control over our lives. We are very conscious of them and careful that they receive the necessary attention and affirmation. Sometimes you would find yourself at civilized gatherings of those worthy ones; the conversation and behaviour observe such a careful pattern of mannered unreality that you have to work at stifling the surrealistic inner voice that wants to declare some wild absurdity to stop the games and offer some respect to the concealed vulnerability. When it is present in its raw form, in poverty or pain, we prefer to look the other way. The sight of extreme and unsheltered vulnerability makes us afraid that our good fortune too could turn. It also makes us feel guilty; we do so little for the abandoned and forgotten. Underneath all our poise and attempted control of life, there is a gnawing sense of vulnerability.