2.24.2008

Prayer Antenna

I've always been fascinated with the tefillin. For the uninitiate, the tefillin are scroll-filled leather boxes (and accompanying straps) that some Jewish men use during prayer. They're really used for remembrance; I mistakenly believed they were, like the monk's crown, for amplification.

I loved that mistaken idea and now it's resurrected by Paul Davies. An omnipotent God, it could be argued, should be able to hear you wherever you are. But what if you're in a lead-lined room? What if you want your prayers heard over your neighbors? Perhaps then a device to get at the blimping Godear. Perhaps a prayer antenna.

It also reminds me of a Matthew Vescovo painting I saw where all the prayers of the world's children, the world's businessmen, the world's presidents', and the worlds' religious figures' are blocked out by baseball players thanking God for homeruns. It's brilliant and, like much good stuff, not online. You'll have to imagine it.

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