Genie is the root word for genius
And it's a really interesting idea because there's this unlimited power that's associated with genius, but it's constrained
And that's really what the human spirit is like
'Cause it has this aspect of the infinite
And it is something that can grant wishes
But it's also constrained, terribly

[Chorus]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?

We're constrained mortally and physically and all that but the thing is, is that
Both the infinite possibility and the constraint are necessary
That's what makеs up the genie, it has to bе both at the same time
And the idea that, you know, if you find your genie
You can have your wishes, that's right
You have to really want what you're wishing for
Or you have to make the proper sacrifices to get it
It can't be just some whim
You have to ask for something that you would rather not have
Which is usually wisdom
Somebody asked me about prayer
They asked me if I prayed and I thought, well, depends on what you mean by that, exactly
[Chorus]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?

But I do think that if you sit on the edge of your bed
And you ask
What foolish thing you're doing to make it worse
That you'll get an answer, right now
And it won't be the one you want
But it might be the one that if you listened to would set things straight
I don't think that I've ever been in this situation where
If something wasn't going right for me and I sat and thought; “Okay, huh, I'm willing to figure out what I'm doing wrong.”
Which is a big thing to think because you never know how much you're doing wrong it might be something that you really don't wanna contend with
But if you clear some space to meditate on that
The probability that you'll figure out something that you did that was stupid that's bending you and twisting you in the wind
You'll get an answer very, very rapidly

[Chorus]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
And it's not obvious how you do that
You know, I mean it's not like you know how you're manipulating your neurons or something
It happens of its own accord in some sense like you can participate in it, I guess and you can interfere with it and it seems to take a certain amount of willpower
But it still all happens mysteriously behind the scenes
And I would say this sort of attitude towards, let's say, prayer that we're discussing is just an extension of that, it’s something like
Well, you admit that there's a problem first
And then you ask for the minimum necessary intervention which would be, all right
Well, I'd like to move forward on this
Some small amount that someone like me could actually manage
I'd be willing to carry it out and then you reorient the way you're thinking as a consequence of that and something usually pops out of the abyss
To guide you, very strange
But it's not really any stranger than the fact that we can think at all
Because the fact that we can think is actually very strange
Strange like the fact that we can dream is strange
And that's strange beyond belief
That you can dream or that something in you dreams
Which is a much better way of thinking about it because it's not like you're really in control of your dreams

[Outro by Akira The Don]
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?
I don't ask God for favors
Or for wishes
Or for wishes
You know?