Serious question
What’s the material difference between institutionalized forms of prayer vs magical incantations and occult rituals?
Beyond supplication vs command attitudes?
You’re still operating with a supernatural interventionist expectation right?
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This isn’t snark. Most of my family believes in prayer. My father has said daily prayers all his life (though mostly the meditative rather than supplicatory type). Praying for vague or specific good fortune is routine in India. For grades, cures for disease, etc.
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Hinduism is weird that way. There’s a range of prayers and hymns ranging from metaphysical contemplation and epic memory genres to very specific intentional wishing.
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It’s kinda hilarious that I can recite large chunks of many Sanskrit hymns (they tend to be long do memorizing complete ones is a feat) simply by virtue of having picked them up through repeatedly hearing them and barely understanding 10-25%.
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My older relatives are convinced it does me good anyway. Even uncomprehending listening and rote parroting ability picked up despite yourself.
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I suspect Christian prayer is significantly more social by default. Hindu prayer seems to be private by default.
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Replying to @micahtredding and @vgr
Prayer tends to be implicitly social, even if done privately.
I suspect this is not as true for magic.
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Replying to
Can you elaborate a little .. bhakti maarga is an easy way to realize ultimate n realization of the vast (பரம்பொருள்)
Not sure abt the expectations of super natural intervention .. atleast I haven't seen that in any Hindu texts .. then there is karma Maarga n Jnana maarga
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Probably the shaping of the supplication to fit institutionally-approved values and concerns.
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Most institutionalized forms of prayer are a social organization mechanism more than a legit request for supernatural intervention.
Whereas that's generally NOT true for magical incantations and occult rituals.
Replying to
Isn’t the material difference some idea of ‘reward system based stability ’? Once institutional incantations stop generating rewards, people bail. The occult seems to instill a much slower moving recalibration to reward systems.




