Prayer

I am TAing for a Community Psych 101 class, and we are having an online discussion about spirituality. One of the students asked me what I meant when I wrote that I "send out prayers to the universe" and I thought I'd post my reply for all of you:

Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, but I wanted to give a well thought out answer.
If you search you will find that answered prayers and unanswered prayers (and miracles) happen to people of all faiths, religions, and world views. It seems to me that the key to answers in not in WHICH god or gods you are praying to, but it is really in the act of prayer itself that the answers come. Logic would say that it could be that either prayer causes a self-fulfilling prophesy or possibly an attitude of openness to change within us. Or the other explanation I have entertained is simply that it is a part of a universal law (similar to laws of nature). Have you ever called someone up right as they needed you, completely unintentionally? Or ran into someone at the grocery store that you haven’t seen in a long time and they said something that you really needed to hear? I believe the universe provides what we need as long as we are open to it. (I am not alone in these beliefs. There is a large community of people in our city that are spiritual without religion and also pray to the universal power.)
The act of prayer I practice may be really similar to what you’ve seen. Prayer to the universe can be an attitude, an act of meditation, a sense of awe, a request for assistance, a cry of pain, even a dance of joy.
I believe that different religions create balance in the universe, just the same as different political beliefs create balance in government. No two people have the same belief system. Even just within Christianity there are different denominations. Within denominations there are individuals that focus on different aspects of the religion. I believe that when people pray to their god or gods that they are all praying to the same power in the universe. I enjoy diversity. I enjoy learning about other peoples’ belief systems. (Although I do have a problem when people try to push their beliefs on me, or promote fear or hate. Hate and fear are not healthy aspect of religion or spirituality.)