my grammar book said, “the middle voice is that use of the verb which describes the subjects as participating in the results of an action.” i read that now, and it reads like a description of christian prayer - “the subject as participating in the results of the action.” i do not control the action; that is a pagan concept of prayer, putting the gods to work by my incantations or rituals. i am not controlled by the action; that is a hindu concept of prayer in which i slump passively into the impersonal and fated will of the gods and goddesses. i enter into the action begun by another, my creating and saving Lord, and find myself participating in the results of the action. i neither do it, nor have it done to me; i will to participate in what is willed.
