A person addresses the divine with words of praise, petition, thanksgiving, or confession. That address is prayer. It is the most widespread and personal of religious acts.

Prayer may be formal and liturgical or spontaneous and private. Postures include kneeling, standing, prostration, and sitting. Some traditions emphasize set texts; others encourage free expression. Intercession for others, lament, and silent contemplation all fall within the range. Belief that the divine hears and responds undergirds the practice.

Psychological benefits of regular prayer are documented, yet religious practitioners value it primarily as relationship rather than technique. Dry periods and unanswered petitions test perseverance. Communities teach children to pray and surround the dying with prayer. In prayer the boundary between the human and the transcendent becomes temporarily permeable.

The simplest prayer is still an act of reaching beyond the self.