Natural Prayers

All my life has been a relearning to pray-a letting go of incantational magic, petition, and the vain repetition me, Lord, me,’ instead watching attentively for the light that burns at the center of every star, every cell, every living creature, every human heart.-from the introduction

Informed by his work as a physicist and astronomer, Raymo strives to connect with that which unifies our intricate world, and thus effectively explores the wonders of what Nikos Kazantzakis called “the dread essence beyond logic.” The “natural prayers” that flow from the pages of Raymo’s work, then, begin as mere observations and slowly open into profound meditations immersed in the languages of science and literature.

“Physicist Chet Raymo chews up the Big Bang Theory and spits out something that Blake might have written about angels. Spend an evening stargazing with this man and you’ll never be the same.”-Paul Ingrim, bookseller, Prairie Lights

“Raymo’s writing is passionate and compassionate, mixing his reverence for the myriad possibilities of life with his amazement at what science has revealed.”- Seattle Times

“[Raymo] approach[es] all of creation with wonder and eloquent delight.”- Boston Globe

Chet Raymo is a professor of physics and astronomy at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.