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Prayer as Madness



Prayer is a form of madness. Tell me that it is rational to talk to the Force of Being as though this were your closest confidant. Tell me that it is not absurd to plead with this force to adjust reality more to your liking--as though you know better how to run the universe.

Prayer, like love, is more about losing yourself A philosopher cannot pray--unless he loses his mind. A pragmatist does not pray until he loses control. Prayer, like love, is more about losing yourself than it is about finding any great truth.

If so, should we not strive to be reasonable people? Why have we institutionalized madness?

This is something vital to know: There is madness and there is madness. There is blind, stupid madness; madness not worth listening to because it has nothing to say. And there is madness that has very much to say, so much the mind cannot listen unless it sits quiet and still.

There is madness that transforms human beings into monsters, imprisoning them within the worst of their own fantasies--and there is madness that lies at the nucleus of being human, a divine spark that makes us free, living beings and not mechanical humanoids. To pray is to find the Essence of Life within your own heart.

It is at that nub of madness that lies beyond reason and intellect, that lies at our very core and essence, it is there that we touch the core and essence of reality, that which we call G-d. And from there we speak with G-d, for there the two of us are one.


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By Tzvi Freeman   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman heads Chabad.org's Ask The Rabbi team, and is a senior member of the Chabad.org editorial team. He is the author of a number of highly original renditions of Kabbalah and Chassidic teaching, including the universally acclaimed "Bringing Heaven Down to Earth." To order Tzvi's books click here. Rabbi Freeman is available for public speaking and workshops. Read more on his bio page.
Painting by Chassidic artist Zalman Kleinman.

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Latest Comments:
Posted: Oct 30, 2009
madness
For madness, may i substitute the term supra-rational. It is a type of irrationality like madness, except that it really expresses the transcendent faith/emuna/metziris nefesh (sacrificing level of faith ) that evokes'conversations' with G-d. It works really well when applied to the Moda Ani wake-up prayer when we thank G-d for his great faith ( Rabba Emunatecha ) in us. We start our day on a two way connection. Can it get much better than this ?
Posted By Anonymous, winnipeg, canada

Posted: June 21, 2009
define madness
Webster-disordered in mind,insane; being rash & foolish; furious,enraged;carried away by enthusiasm; rabid; marked by wild gaiety and merriment.
I was upset at first reading this article because I said to myself, how can praying be madness? Untill I realized I had the wrong idea of madness. Take away the insanity, and we have prayer. And the way it should be said.
Posted By Norm Siller, Orlando, Fl

Posted: Oct 1, 2006
Powerful and beautiful- thank you.
The paintig is magnificent too.

Posted By Miri



 


By Tzvi Freeman
Is G-d in the Consequences?
The Kabbalah of Man and Woman
Help! I Don't Want to Turn Into My Father!
Prayer as Madness
Children of the Universe
The Existential Exodus
Da'at
Mind Over Heart?
The Angels and Us
The Heresy of Kindness
Divine Madness
Tradition or Progress?
Adam
Unidolatry
The Marriage
Showing 1 - 15 of 49