Secular Mantras in Place of Prayer

In an essay for the Spiritual Naturalists, Thomas Schenk wrote that for some naturalists, mindfulness is a replacement for prayer. I’ve been leading meditations for several years for the Spiritual Naturalists and have been making the same replacement but lately have been wanting something a little closer to prayer. I’ve thus started a project of composing mantras in place of prayer. A book I recently read, Beyond Belief by Nir Eyal, suggests something along the same lines that I’d been thinking.

Mantras are short words or phrases that a person repeats silently, over and over again, ideally synchronized with the breath. A common mantra is just this, which, like mindfulness emphasizes being present to whatever is going on around you. However, for me, just this comes with a negative feeling tone, a sense of disappointment—you mean, just this? So when I lead meditations, I’ve suggested instead just love. This gives the positive feeling tone that is more consistent with mindfulness and is more rewarding, something that reinforces the desire to carry out the practice. I like the “just love” mantra and use it from time to time, but I don’t think it has to be my only mantra, so I’ve been experimenting with others that are suitable to the time and place I happen to be at that moment.

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There are both scripted and spontaneous prayers, and readers will have had different experiences with prayer. I grew up an Orthodox Jew, and Orthodox Jews have scripted prayers they employ throughout the day. Upon awakening, one prayer is the Modeh Ani, which roughly translated, comes out to:

Thank you,

everlasting living King,

that in your compassion,

you have returned my soul to me.

I no longer believe in a soul that departs my body when I sleep and that returns when I wake. I no longer believe in an eternal and supernatural King. But lately, I’ve had a yearning for a chant that helps me get moving in the morning. Rather than adapt the Modeh Ani, I’ve adapted Psalm 118:24, which goes in translation:

This is the day the LORD has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it.

This is how I’ve adapted it. Note that the slashes are to suggest where one shift from the in-breath to the out-breath. But it’s only a suggestion.

This is the day /

I’ve awakened to. /

I’m glad /

to be alive.

That’s it. I repeat this several times in my head, often while still in bed, and it helps me get going. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a brush with death, but after surviving a highway car spinout unharmed, I definitely had that sense of glad to be alive. It fades, but it’s nice to recapture that spirit. It’s also helpful to remember that, as hard as life can be, being born in the body of a human being rather than say, a newt or a housefly is, on the whole, pretty lucky.

Also, when thinking about how one’s life, or the world situation in general is rather difficult, a useful mantra can be:

Nonetheless, I’m glad to be alive

I’m working on mantras to use at other times during the day. In the Jewish tradition, there are both scripted prayers to be said in the morning, afternoon and evening and also situational prayers, such as before consuming bread or drinking wine. I’m not too keen on creating a secular equivalent to a long prayer service, but I think these situational prayers could inspire mantras. One I’ve come up with relates to eating. The word rumination is often used to describe repetitive, distressing thoughts. It also describes the way that certain mammals, such as cows, chew food. So, while eating, my mantra is:

Chew over my food. /

Not my thoughts.

 I try to get some exercise during the day and often take a walk. I’ve come up with a simple mantra, synchronized to a quartet of my steps:

Foot /

By /

Foot /

Step

These mantras don’t need to be recited continuously. Everyone once in a while, as my attention drifts, especially toward a rumination (conceived metaphorically), going back to the mantra can be back to appreciating the present moment.

One evening, a few months ago, I led the Spiritual Naturalist meditation group, I led folks in a mantra I invented. I presented two alternatives that each person might use, depending on whether they wanted to focus on the night or the next morning

The sun sets /

And night falls /

But we know /

It’ll rise again

Or

The sun sets /

Darkness falls /

Arise creatures /

Of the Night

There are other possible sources for mantras. For instance, the opening line of Arlo Guthrie’s  The Garden Song works very well.

For the classically minded, a mantra upon visiting the beach could be Thálassa! Thálassa!, the joyful cry described in Xenophon’s Anabasis  of retreating troops reaching the Black Sea.

Mantras expressing gratitude seem to be a natural fit but there could be some that take the place of petitionary prayer as long as a person has in mind that they are asking themselves to do what ought to be done. This is still a work-in-progress, and I’d love to hear if anyone else has mantras that work for them.