In the Hadith - Qudsi, we read it where Allah Ta'ala says : "I am the companion of him who remembers Me". (Muslim, Ibn al-Hajjaju al-Qushayri, Sahih Muslim, Ed. Salim Hashim).

 In this Hadith, it is desirable to hold that when someone is in the presence of the one he is remembering, he sees his companion, and as such, there is contemplation and vision. Seeing the other is a means of knowing the other, and knowing the other is, of course, necessary to consciousness of the self. 

 In other words, if prayer is the road to self-consciousness, then he who does not pray, or does not do so in a manner true to its meaning, will not reach the desired destination. In fact, he who is not present with his Lord in prayer, neither hearing nor seeing Him, is not really praying. Rather, joy and knowledge are the fruits of Mushahada (vision of God) that are endowed only upon those who have truly experienced the comtemplative state examplified in prayer/al-Sallah.