Living Off a Prayer

Prayers scare me. Or unsettle. Or rattle. I'm not sure which. All I know is that they make me uncomfortable.

Since meeting and acquainting with a few Muslim classmates, I have, on several occasions, witnessed their praying sessions. In every instance, I ended up straying to some corner where I could not see them, nor could I hear them clearly. The tumult resulting from hearing them pray causes me enough unrest to resort to a secluded location, where I may collect my breath and composure.

Don't get me wrong. I respect everyone's choice of faith. But prayer or words of grace, no matter in what faith, stirs up an physical ache in my chest that triggers my "flight" instinct. Only desperate willpower prevented me from fleeing the building where the prayers are conducted. Why I have this ache, I have absolutely no idea. Perhaps my lack of faith is to blame, perhaps there really is such a thing as "personal demons" that scream and struggle to flee at the sound of prayer.

If there is such a solution to this, I would like to know about it.