--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Prayer is of no use when it is not used…" description: "\"“Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not only a matter of belief, it is a matter of practice. We can’t get caught in the trap of dogma o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg" --- # Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not… ![“Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not only a matter of belief, it is a matter of practice. We can’t get caught in the trap of dogma or method. Prayer is not about right or wrong or “should” or “only.” It is about a personal or individualized way to talk with God or our Higher…” quote by Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg) > ““Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not only a matter of belief, it is a matter of practice. We can’t get caught in the trap of dogma or method. Prayer is not about right or wrong or “should” or “only.” It is about a personal or individualized way to talk with God or our Higher Power or Universal Energy or the collective unconscious or whatever we want to call it. Prayer is not about someone else telling us how to pray or what to say. It is about communication.”” [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Prayer is a personal practice of communication with a higher power, not bound by doctrine or external instructions. **In simple terms:** Prayer is personal communication, not dogma. Key Takeaway Practice personal, authentic communication with the divine. Themes spirituality personal practice communication faith Mood contemplative spiritual thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - daily meditation - quiet contemplation - seeking guidance Key Concepts mindfulness inner dialogue self‑reflection Questions to Reflect On - How do you define your personal practice? - What does authentic communication mean to you? A Different Perspective Prayer can feel empty without sincere intention. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collective unconscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-unconscious/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Higher power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/higher-power/) [Method Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/method-prayer-1840708/) [Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer/) [Prayer Right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer-right-1020333/) [Prayer Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer-use-1840706/) [Right or wrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-or-wrong/) [Talk With God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talk-with-god/) [Telling Pray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-pray-1840707/) [Universal energy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universal-energy/) [Used Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/used-prayer-514570/) ## Related quotes > [When the past has taught us that we have more within us than we have ever used, our prayer is a cry to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-steiner/when-the-past-has-taught-us-that-we-have-more-within-us-than-we-have/) [Rudolf Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-steiner/) > [Keep quiet and say one's prayers-certainly not merely the best, but the only things to do if one would be truly happy; but, ashamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/keep-quiet-and-say-one-s-prayers-certainly-not-merely-the-best-but/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [It is my humble prayer that I may be of some use in my day and generation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hosea-ballou/it-is-my-humble-prayer-that-i-may-be-of-some-use-in-my-day-and/) [Hosea Ballou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hosea-ballou/) > [“Madame Guyon noted in her book, “Short and Easy Method of Prayer” that, “Religion applies the remedy to the outward body while the disease…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-gimour/madame-guyon-noted-in-her-book-short-and-easy-method-of-prayer-that/) [Eric Gimour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-gimour/) > [The great method of prayer is to have none. If in going to prayer one can form in oneself a pure capacity for receiving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-frances-de-chantal/the-great-method-of-prayer-is-to-have-none-if-in-going-to-prayer-one/) [Jane Frances de Chantal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-frances-de-chantal/) > [“As Jesus dealt with sin’s cause rather than effect, so the spiritual leader should adopt the same method in prayer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-oswald-sanders-2/as-jesus-dealt-with-sin-s-cause-rather-than-effect-so-the-spiritual/) [J Oswald Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-oswald-sanders-2/) > [I feel bad for people who (don't have) faith because they don't have that blanket of comfort...If I'm going out on stage, I always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-mcginley/i-feel-bad-for-people-who-don-t-have-faith-because-they-don-t-have/) [Ted McGinley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-mcginley/) > [No one who has had a unique experience with prayer has a right to withhold it from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soong-may-ling/no-one-who-has-had-a-unique-experience-with-prayer-has-a-right-to/) [Soong May-ling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soong-may-ling/) > [The sacred gift of prayer is in the right hand of our Savior, and according to the measure that you empty yourself of yourself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pio-of-pietrelcina/the-sacred-gift-of-prayer-is-in-the-right-hand-of-our-savior-and/) [Pio of Pietrelcina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pio-of-pietrelcina/) > [My family could really use some prayer right now. If you're not the praying kind, then positive thoughts are more than welcome as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-family-could-really-use-some-prayer-right-now-if-you-re-not-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I believe that what is really important is that God can speak to us. If we have the humility to approach him in prayer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/i-believe-that-what-is-really-important-is-that-god-can-speak-to-us/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [Prayer has a right to the word "ineffable." It is an hour of outpourings which words cannot express,--of that interior speech which we do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-swetchine/prayer-has-a-right-to-the-word-ineffable-it-is-an-hour-of-outpourings/) [Sophie Swetchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-swetchine/) > [Prayer has never made you right, because right now our world of Islam is filled with abject hypocrisy in its religiosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-farrakhan/prayer-has-never-made-you-right-because-right-now-our-world-of-islam/) [Louis Farrakhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-farrakhan/) > [“Every wish, every prayer has to go somewhere, right?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoraida-c-rdova/every-wish-every-prayer-has-to-go-somewhere-right/) [Zoraida Córdova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoraida-c-rdova/) > [God speaks once, yea twice, yet Man perceiveth it not, in a Dream, in a Vision of the night, when deep Sleep falleth upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/god-speaks-once-yea-twice-yet-man-perceiveth-it-not-in-a-dream-in-a/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) ## More by Bill P > [“Some of us come from families where we were not taught healthy emotional language and habits. We did not get a balanced perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/some-of-us-come-from-families-where-we-were-not-taught-healthy/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) > [“of our prayer and meditation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/of-our-prayer-and-meditation/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) > [“Armed with humility, we who once dreaded change as much as death can learn to face real life with a new courage and hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/armed-with-humility-we-who-once-dreaded-change-as-much-as-death-can/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) > [“Sloth is the thief of time. The character defect of putting off actions “until things get better” is one of the most destructive detours…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/sloth-is-the-thief-of-time-the-character-defect-of-putting-off/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) > [“If we are humble, we are open to new ideas and new ways of seeing things. Open-mindedness is a very important part of humility.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/if-we-are-humble-we-are-open-to-new-ideas-and-new-ways-of-seeing/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) > [“Prayer is seeing answers and direction in life. Meditation is listening for answers from a Higher Power and developing the ability within ourselves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/prayer-is-seeing-answers-and-direction-in-life-meditation-is/) [Bill P](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) [Explore all 7 Bill P quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/) ## More Collective unconscious quotes > [I'm just trying to rid the world of all these fevered egos that are tainting our collective unconscious...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-m-just-trying-to-rid-the-world-of-all-these-fevered-egos-that-are/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [The writing is the springboard for your intuitive stuff and then you see, maybe a colour of what you want to achieve. Then you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-richardson/the-writing-is-the-springboard-for-your-intuitive-stuff-and-then-you/) [Miranda Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-richardson/) > [“I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my experience belongs to me, not the collective bloody unconscious.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-m-sorry-to-disappoint-you-but-my-experience-belongs-to-me-not-the/) [Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [“Summertime, I think, is a collective unconscious. We all remember the notes that made up the song of the ice-cream man; we all know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/summertime-i-think-is-a-collective-unconscious-we-all-remember-the/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“As human beings, we are connected in many ways to each other, to the nature that surrounds us and to the outermost parts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stevan-v-nikolic/as-human-beings-we-are-connected-in-many-ways-to-each-other-to-the/) [Stevan V. Nikolic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stevan-v-nikolic/) > [Some people talk about children wanting to be born as though somewhere out there in the collective unconscious there's a spirit, or a thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-marie-macdonald/some-people-talk-about-children-wanting-to-be-born-as-though/) [Ann-Marie MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-marie-macdonald/) > [The Internet has usurped the collective unconscious and access to cosmic consciousness has become difficult and almost primitive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-maron/the-internet-has-usurped-the-collective-unconscious-and-access-to/) [Marc Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-maron/) > [Jung even asserted that he would have no objection to regarding the psyche as a quality of matter and matter as a concrete aspect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-louise-von-franz/jung-even-asserted-that-he-would-have-no-objection-to-regarding-the/) [Marie-Louise von Franz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-louise-von-franz/) > [You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can't even imagine dreaming. You have done more for the collective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-spielberg/you-have-many-years-ahead-of-you-to-create-the-dreams-that-we-can-t/) [Steven Spielberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-spielberg/) > [I think everyone's pretty much the same underneath. The collective unconscious is a real thing. There's only a few emotions, and we all have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliana-hatfield/i-think-everyone-s-pretty-much-the-same-underneath-the-collective/) [Juliana Hatfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliana-hatfield/) > [The God-image in man was not destroyed by the Fall but was only damaged and corrupted (“deformed”), and can be restored through God's grace.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/the-god-image-in-man-was-not-destroyed-by-the-fall-but-was-only/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [America was founded by puritans and like it or not the anti-pleasure dogma of those buckled-shoed killjoys still pervades our collective unconscious like an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-miller/america-was-founded-by-puritans-and-like-it-or-not-the-anti-pleasure/) [Dennis Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-miller/) > [For me, synchronicity is a way of confirming the rightness of action. It is only in its absence that I realize I'm out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-bantock/for-me-synchronicity-is-a-way-of-confirming-the-rightness-of-action/) [Nick Bantock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-bantock/) > [“But only part of him was listening. Another part, even if it hadn't read Chomsky or Jung or Sheldrake—who had time for dead guys…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-watts/but-only-part-of-him-was-listening-another-part-even-if-it-hadn-t/) [Peter Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-watts/) > [“I feel as though dispossessed from the semblances of some crystalline reality to which I’d grown accustomed, and to some degree, had engaged in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashim-shanker/i-feel-as-though-dispossessed-from-the-semblances-of-some-crystalline/) [Ashim Shanker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashim-shanker/) [Browse all 74 Collective unconscious quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-unconscious/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not only a matter of belief, it is a matter of practice. We can’t get caught in the trap of dogma or method. Prayer is not about right or wrong or “should” or “only.” It is about a personal or individualized way to talk with God or our Higher Power or Universal Energy or the collective unconscious or whatever we want to call it. Prayer is not about someone else telling us how to pray or what to say. It is about communication.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill P" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used-prayer-is-not-only-a-matter/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Collective unconscious" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used-prayer-is-not-only-a-matter/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71c/bill-p-50868_collective-unconscio_prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used_1778474.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Prayer is of no use when it is not used. Prayer is not only a matter of belief, it is a matter of practice…” — Bill P", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bill P", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-p/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Prayer is of no use when...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used-prayer-is-not-only-a-matter/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-p/prayer-is-of-no-use-when-it-is-not-used-prayer-is-not-only-a-matter/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```