Hannah Burr - Contemporary Prayers to Whatever Works: An Artists Collection of Prayers to Nothing-in-Particular

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com Copyright 2021 by Hannah Burr All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. First Tiller Press trade paperback edition March 2021 TILLER PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or . The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Interior design by Jennifer Chung Cover design by Patrick Sullivan Cover art by Hannah Burr Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Burr, Hannah, 1973- author. Title: Contemporary prayers to whatever works : an artists collection of prayers to nothing-in-particular / Hannah Burr. | Description: New York : Tiller Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Identifiers: LCCN 2020021257 (print) | LCCN 2020021258 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982154677 (paperback) | ISBN 9781982154684 (ebook) | Subjects: LCSH: Prayers.

Classification: LCC BL560 .B824 2021 (print) | LCC BL560 (ebook) | DDC 204/.33dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020021257 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020021258 ISBN 978-1-9821-5467-7 ISBN 978-1-9821-5468-4 (ebook) To

This book is an artists take on prayers, written in plain language to whomever or whatever works for you. Its one in a series intended for anybody, regardless of belief. It sidesteps the whole debate about what one personally feels connected to, and instead focuses on the act of connection itself. The images in this book arent supposed to resemble anything in particular. They have been paired at random with the phrases, and painted with acrylic gouache pigment on paper. They are abstract forms that can stand in for whatever you might want to address in a prayer or petition.

What you address is your business: it could be a mythic warrior princess or a plastic bottle, Jesus or Great Spirit, or a force like gravity, art, or the ocean. Some prayers include other dash- or dot-like images, which you can fill in with whatever person, place, thing, or scenario is currently in heavy rotation in your thoughts and feelings. Sections like Yes offer prompts for noting the action of prayer, expressions of gratitude, and a little creative brainstorming. These are a means of redirecting thought when it tends to slide into shadow territory, particularly when the shadows begin to engulf and overwhelm. Play around with them and see how and when they work for you. You dont have to understand or have a clear idea of what you believe in to pray; it can be fuzzy, and your experience may change over time.

I find that the more I engage in prayer of this kind, the less I understand what Im praying to and yet the more intimate the relationship becomes. You also dont need anybodys permission or intercession to connect directly with . No one is more qualified than you, though others may be more familiar with the practice. Lastly, this is a come-as-you-are affair. Theres no need to be eloquent or pious to engage in prayer. I find its best not to BS, sugarcoat, or be overly formal in my prayers.

Honesty is the very medium of this whole process. Phrases like the ones in this book help me to touch ground and admit my smallness, and by so doing connect to a broader freedom and peace, similar to what I experience beside an expanse of ocean or looking up at a big sky. Im writing this introduction in April 2020, when the world is collectively experiencing alarming and sudden upheaval, over which we seem to have little to no control. We are a species in free fall with an uncertain future. This may have always been true, but it is nearly impossible to ignore at this moment in history. These phrases were mostly written in response to personal circumstances at an earlier time, and yet strike me as highly relevant and practical for right now, too.

May they assist you and those you love in navigating whatever is in front of you at present and surround you with in the details of your day.

Quiet my mind, , and show me whats next. Help me, , to think like a piece of wood, or a plant. Just for a little while. Can you help me, , get off the couch? Or, if Im supposed to be resting here, help me to let myself be, and give myself a pass for now. , help me to rest. Help me, , to take in the specific arrangement of objects in front of me, to really see the details. , show me how to listen to, care for, and rest in this only body I have.