The Path of Prayer

In this fervent but unfocused primer, prayer is more therapeutic protocol than divine commandment. Drawing on the writings of sages, unconventional (and some might say dubious) scientific studies and many true-life parables of supplications miraculously answered, Burnham (A Book of Angels) reassures us that all prayers great (cure this cancer) and small (untie this necklace) go straight to God's ears. Nominally a Christian, Burnham has a broadly ecumenical but unspecific idea of God-a.k.a. ""Creative Element,"" ""force of the universe"" and ""tachyon energy""-and her concept of prayer is similarly unstructured and abstract. Prayer can be the familiar hands-clasped entreaty (for which she provides tips on posture and warm-up breathing exercises), but it can be virtually any other act-listening to music, drinking coffee, washing the dishes-done with a pure heart. Prayer taps into the mystical healing power of a cosmos that is raptly attentive to our needs, but demands little from us except emotional sincerity. Devotees of Burnham's free-form New Age spirituality will like this approach, but religious traditionalists who think that specific beliefs and rituals are important to God may not.