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Mystically Wired: Exploring New Realms In Prayer

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For most of us, prayer can feel like an unnatural and very difficult exercise; like trying to learn Chinese by flashcards and willpower alone.

But what if prayer is actually something we're *made* to do? What if we're actually "wired" to pray? And what if the biggest hindrance to learning prayer is our thinking about it? Ken Wilson not only explains how and why we're pray-ers, but also why prayer can be difficult.

But my very favorite part of this books is that it reads something like a good beginner's cookbook. There's plenty of good recipes to try, easy to follow directions, and it makes you feel like you CAN do this.

I've really needed a fresh view on prayer- more than I realized. This book has been the right book at the right time! With great insights, personal illustrations marked with candor and practical advice, this book has helped me enjoy prayer again and to discern the different ways I sometimes pressure myself to make it something it's not. As a campus minister, responsible for dozens of students, I've been particularly moved through remembrance prayer as a way to pray regularly for them and to go deeper in partnership with God's work in their lives.

What is prayer? What is it for? Why do we do it? Why is it important? What is its objective? Where should it take place? Where does it take place? How do we know when we are successful? How do you do it? Do we go anywhere in particular when we pray? Should we go anywhere in particular when we pray? Why? How? Oh, there are many questions about prayer that we have, and this book gives us some real answers. Gives us some background--how others have thought about prayer and how they prayed and why they prayed. It gives us some background about brain science and how that should encourage us in our praying. It gives us some of the personal experience of the author as he struggled to discover a vital prayer life for himself. It gives us a way of thinking about prayer that opens up the experience and allows it to be an adventure in knowing God. In participating in the communion of saints as they adore God. Allows prayer to be something beyond duty and obligation. Encourages us to understand it as an opportunity to experience God intimately, to open a doorway into the heavenly realms by which we may enter and enjoy God for a time.

This is both a why and a how-to book, fully grounded in Scripture, full of humility and wisdom. Full of suggestions that will help anyone toward a fuller, more joyful encounter with God.

'Mystically Wired' by Ken Wilson is a good book, mainly because if you take what he has to say seriously, and put it into practice, then you will discover new intimacy with God and start the long journey of a life of prayer.

It's as simple as that really.

I loved the book, I loved Wilson's writing style and I really enjoyed his blend of mysticism, practical advice and scientific explanation. Throughout the book Wilson deals effortlessly with the transition from mystic and scientific theory and fact into prayerful practice, giving loads of good ideas and tips to assist the reader in developing an effective and intimate prayer life.

The book is divided into two main parts. The first deals with the truth behind our mystical wiring - blending together the spiritual and scientific aspects into a easily digestible whole. The second part then explores 'new realms in prayer' considering ways to focus, meditate and develop intimacy with God, including praying at intervals.

Having said all this, Mystically Wired is not a book for easy reading. You won't read it through in one sitting and I would even suggest that you read it at intervals over a number of months, putting into practice its advice as you go along - and almost stopping at times to reflect on your prayer walk as a result of reading the book.

I would not hestiate in recommending this book to anyone who wants to deepen their relationship with God through prayer and mediation. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this book is essential reading for all who want to focus more on the 'quiet place' and it is already back on my reading list for future 're-reading' and reference - as a means of reflecting on my own prayer practices going forward.

If you let Him, I think God will change your life as a result of this book.

It just depends on whether you will let Him.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the US Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

To be Mystically Wired, is to take prayer beyond our ordinary,everyday experience.
And to turn it into an intimate experience with God.
Using science,scripture and personal experience. Ken Wilson explains how as created
beings in the likeness of God. We are designed or as he puts it "wired" to live out
our faith to the fullest.
This is not for a select few, rather it is within the grasp of every believer.
However, it is not to be entered into lightly, for you never know what may happen,
or what may be required of you.
The book is encouraging because it acknowledges the difficulties that we face in prayer. But it also offers practical solutions. Solutions that will guide us closer to God. Allowing God to take his rightful place in our lives.
This book is an easy read, wherever you are in your relationship with God.
It is a guide to help you along your journey.
Thanks to the kind folks at Thomas Nelson for providing the book to review.

The subtitle of this book is "Exploring New Realms in Prayer." I was a bit skeptical originally since that sounded a bit New Agey for my taste, but the book was pretty solidly Christian. Ken Wilson argues that our brains are "wired" to pray, that is to connect with God, and that our thinking about prayer is part of how we get in our own way. The beginning of the book is a bit rough to get through, the good part actually starts about halfway in. This is where the author starts detailing a wide variety of techniques that the average person can use to make their prayer time more effective and less discouraging. Interestingly, many of these were suggestions that I associate with a Catholic perspective- praying through the hours, meditating on verses of the Bible, etc. I've been trying a few of them, mostly while driving, and while I can't say yet if they're helpful or not they are definitely relaxing. The author focuses in on building a consistent prayer habit without trying to bite off too much all at once. Instead, he advocates for one short prayer time each day, then slowly building both in length and frequency. This is a refreshing approach to those of us who had come to feel like if we didn't spend hours each day in heavy prayer then we weren't doing enough. Overall, the second half of this book is a helpful guide to getting the most from your prayer time. The first half of the book is a bit more problematic, although there are some good points to be made.

Ken Wilson's new work, Mystically Wired: Exploring New Realms in Prayer is one of those works that is needed most by the people who feel they need it least. Growing up in a mainstream conservative evangelical SBC situation, I was taught, at least by example, that usually prayer should start with "Dear Heavenly Father" and end with "In Jesus name, Amen." That was the long and short of it. Occasionally I would hear someone talking about listening more than speaking when you pray, but I still got the feeling it needed to be in between that specific prelude and postlude set.

There is a place for doggedly persistent verbal prayer, I'm sure. But it's more than that. The title will put off many by its use of the word "mystically," but if that bothers you, cover it up with some tape or something. You need this book.

I remember well the lowest point of my life. I had been doing all the things I thought were right. I was doing the quiet time thing for five to seven minutes and I found myself praying a lot. But I still fell into a deep depression and, though it wasn't a direct result of the prayer I was doing, I began to feel a miring sense of frustration with prayer. The cliche that my prayers were "bouncing off the ceiling" became all too real. But I kept plugging away, hoping for a change.

I needed what Wilson talks about. Prayer is an instinct, not a chore.

His most helpful point was possibly the most basic. He says that "learning to sit quietly alone in a room makes a big difference in your praying."

What an important statement. I am convinced that most of us go through life without ever really finding ourselves in the moment. We're not really there. We're driving to work, we're running errands before our feet ever hit the ground in the morning. To experience real, powerful prayer, we need to be in the present moment where we can genuinely meet God.

I don't wish to defend Wilson at every point, but there is much valuable guidance one can take from this book. I highly recommend it.

Mystically Wired
by Ken Wilson

When it comes to prayer I am not the one I want to be. Most of my life is filled with task lists and meetings. I tend to run from one thing to another and don't always take the role of praying as I should. In ken Wilson's new book Mystically Wired I found new hope in creating a life of prayer and connecting with God. Ken does a great job of helping us understand how our brains function when it comes to transcending what we know and communicating with one we can't touch.
I find myself wanting to explain this book to you in a way that would require me to simply re-write the whole thing. Instead I am going to share several quotes with you.

"Prayer is also what the brain does or wants to do to transcend the boundaries of the self, to sense a connection with the praying self."

"Time to pray was often tie to ruminate, to chew on the cud of my problems. when this is a staple of your praying, it can take a lot of willpower to sustain the habit of daily prayer."

"It is possible to learn to pray in new ways..."

"The kind of prayer that was once thought to be reserved for unusually gifted people called mysitcs is more accessible to ordinary people than previously thought."

"God can interact with us as we are."

This was one quote that made me realize that I can change the way I pray and that prayer can be something special in my life. If God can interact with me where I am then I only have to reach out my hand and start communicating with Him. Ken goes on to further explain how the brain deals with prayer.

Don't get caught up in the science of this book. The bulk of the book really is about retraining yourself on how to pray. If you have always wondered how people can have that kind of prayer life then you need to read this book. You are not as far away as you might think.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Book Sneeze for giving me the chance to review this book. You can find more about Ken Wilson click here or to purchase the book click here.

Ken Wilson has written a winsome account of why prayer has been so deeply woven into the fabric of human life for millennia--and what that might have to do with you. Bringing together elements of historic Christian spiritual disciplines with fascinating discussions of contemporary science, Wilson argues that prayer is one of the most natural activities for a human being. Even if one does not agree with every conclusion that Wilson draws, everyone who reads this book will learn from it. It is both profoundly searching and eminently practical, mystical without being unnecessarily mysterious. Brilliant! Check it out!

I was asked to help out with the high school camp at Cove Christian Camp back in January by the director, David Bruce. The theme for our camp was "Being Transformed," and Dave broke the days down into specific ares, like "Being Transformed in our Bible Study," "Transformed in my relationships," and so on. I was asked to lead the day focused on a transformed prayer life.


Right after I was asked to lead this day, I was sent Mystically Wired by Ken Wilson in the mail to read and write a review for. Since it fit right into what I was focusing on, I dove in. I didn't hesitate, because Phyllis Tickle herself called this particular book the "best book on prayer [she has] ever read." If you are familiar with who Phyllis Tickle is, that is really saying something.


The book starts by focusing on a bit of neuroscience, and some recent findings that show all of us are "wired" to meditate/pray. Research has shown that we activate channels in our brain and fire along synapses that seem to be reserved for just this activity. Wilson's conclusion is that prayer is than at least the art of the humanly possible. He naturally advocates that it is more, but it is certainly not less. In other words, it is a part of our human makeup to be mystically inclined. To some that will no doubt sound too wishy-washy, particularly many in the Evangelical side of things, because for the most part we have neglected or left behind the mystical practices, lumping that in with Roman Catholicism and the Medieval period. But the research seems to suggest that we do, in fact, have mystical experiences, and that we are coded to have them. It isn't just for crazy people.


One thing I appreciate most about the first section of Wilson's book is the fact that he is not afraid to engage and even accept science and biology, just as he also is not afraid to look at some traditional practices of prayer. Ken Wilson is a minister in the Vineyard churches, which is known more for it's spontaneity in the prayer world. But he openly embraces and suggests using prayer aids such as Daily Offices and written prayers.


The second half of the book explores 10 practices that anyone can try out, and includes practical recommendations for incorporating them in one's prayer life, and one could skip the first half entirely and focus on these exercises. The first half, however, is very encouraging and quite interesting.