Pray with Me

First, an introduction to the first of many articles I will write in this collection. I decided recently that I need to write about ideas I want to build into things, but shouldn’t because I need to stay focused. Focus is difficult for me because ideas are produced and reproduced like ferrel cats in the backyard of my head. If you’re one of us, these people with endless ideas, and you need a vehicle to drive your idea out to the country and let it go in a field to fend for itself, then this is the place for you. Welcome.

Today’s idea.

I need to pray. Prayer is a reminder that I am cosmically not alone. It is a reminder that the shit I feel is not the only thing there is. There is more. There is greater. There are others. I am not the only one feeling. Prayer gets me out of me. And, I forget to pray. It’s so critical to my survival so you’d think I’d remember it constantly, but I don’t. Then again I often forget to eat lunch because I’m in the zone, so there’s that. Anyway…

Cultural prayer was once a thing for Christians and its still a thing in some religious or spiritual structures like Islam or some Buddhist traditions. Men and women pray when the bell chimes or when the hour strikes. They pray together and for each other and in unison. There is great hope and presence in this collective act.

I’m a digital designer and thinker so it occured to me that I’d love to have a prayer reminder that gave me a sense of others in the real world that were praying for 60 seconds right there in that moment. Something that was real, that wasn’t just a reminder I tap “cancel” to, but one that after 60 seconds I tap done, and I could see that 24,436 other people had just prayed too. I’m not alone. I think this is a thing for me.

I want to feel less alone.

Pray with Me idea, you are really easy to think of. The hard part is not thinking of you, the hard part is building you, and still the harder part is actually getting you to be adopted by people who may feel nothing like me about prayer or being alone. I’m opening the door now, and I’d like you to get out. You’re just an idea not a human (dear lord that would be attrocious), you’re not even a precious pet. You’re an idea, and I can let you go. Goodbye and good luck.