I have been grappling with a question lately. What is faith? I mean: What…IS…faith? I am more than willing to write an extensive post on this very topic (and I will), but I need something from you. What definition do you give this powerful and elusive word? Leave a comment. Don’t worry. I really have no intention of jumping on anyone to make my point. I really do want to know what you think. Be it religious, philosophical, psychological, or some other “ogical” that I haven’t thought of…let me know. I haven’t lost my faith, but I’m feeling that it has been mislaid in some existential manner of speaking and I would, frankly, like to pin it down. The word itself carries a bloated sense of self-worth. I’d like to cut through the crap and get to the real meaning of the matter. Since I don’t actually know precisely how I feel about the topic I’d like to depart, momentarily, from convention and solicit a general impression before I embark on a calculated description of my own views.
As usual, I’m listening to something.
“Tuma hee ho bhaava men mere, vicharon mein, pukaron mein.
Banaale yantra ab mujhko mere saravatra samarapita hai
You are the only one in my heart and my thoughts.
You are the one who I call out to.
Now make me your instrument…all I am I offer to you”
A guy can dream…searching for a “you”. As if I need one.
Well…the clock is off on your site since I am reading this as 0538 and it says you posted it at 0814…
Faith: Belief without Knowledge; Trust without Trial; Acceptance without Experience; Leaping without Looking (includes looking, not being able to see, and leaping anyway).
Applicable to a wide variety of daily activities of most people (and other living beings) on this planet. Detractors could also say these descriptions would just as easily fit if you asked “What is stupid?” and they would, from where they stand, be just as correct (and just as incorrect for those standing in a different location).
Comment by Manz — July 20, 2006 @ 10:45 am
Faith is a feeling that something exists and is right even though you have no concrete proof that event or force exists.
I say “is right” because we tend to have faith in the good things or hope they are good things. I have faith in my family that they will be by my side and help me. I have faith in my friends that they are good people and will also be my side when I need them. I still have some faith in the world that people are not all selfish jerks.
But most of that stuff is hope. So I guess in many cases faith is a “strong hope” maybe something just beyond hope, something that you can hang on to make your fears go away, to make yourself a bit more comfortable that it will be all right.
I think that even when people say I have faith that God is looking out for us. Is a way of just having hope that something is in control, something is in charge and that the universe isn’t a random occurrence.
Sometimes faith can be blind, sometimes it can be very open minded. But faith is something personal, something that only the person that has that particular faith has. Because we all have different fears and different dreams and faith is what makes it possible for us to work for our dreams and ignore our fears.
Comment by boobka — July 20, 2006 @ 2:53 pm
Why do you ask, Kenny? Faith is a great feeling, I’m sure, if it strikes you. And that’s exactly what it is – a feeling. Isn’t faith and religion the same thing? No, they are related, but distinct. What does one do if one desires the feeling of faith, but doesn’t quite have it? You could shout out, “Hey God, please reveal yourself to me, so I can feel faith.” That’s not so far-fetched, is it? After all, Muhammad received his first revelation from the angel Gabriel. Baháu’lláh received his first divine revelation in a prison in Tihran. Moses went up a mountain and got his. Nice, huh? Still, revelation isn’t a phenomena bestowed only upon historical celebrities. I’m told it happens to men and women everywhere, every day. So what if you want to feel faith, but you don’t? What do you do? Well, you could wait. Or you could go out and seek it. Siddartha renounced all his worldly possessions and spend years suffering as an ascetic trying to find faith. I suppose one could quit their job, ebay all their stuff, donate their cash to some worthy cause, and go live under a bridge. Maybe they’ll find faith down there. Or maybe, you could try that 30-day faith experiment you may have heard about: Wake up each morning, say the simple prayer, “Surprise me, God.” http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47252 Wow, right? Or what if you were just okay with knowing that you don’t know, and possibly never will. I’m not talking about giving up, but instead, letting go. I’m not talking about being agnostic. Being agnostic merely balances you smack in the middle of the faith/no-faith continuum. It’s a precarious and uncomfortable spot. It’s tricky to maintain. You’ll feel duplicitous with yourself if you ever waver slightly to either side. And you will waver. Life unbalances you: It might be a car accident, or it might be a smiling child. But what if there was a third alternative? A plane orthogonal to the line of “faith.” I like the geometrical metaphor because it illustrates why a different paradigm could not bee seen by someone standing way down the line. So Kenny, my response to your question isn’t another answer to “What is faith?” I think the other respondents nailed it. Rather, I’m suggesting that there may be something else. Something that is neither faith, nor not-faith. Here’s a long quote about unanswered questions that makes me feel better when I’m yearning: –>
(Questions Not Tending to Edification) Thus have I heard: The venerable Malunkyaputta arose at eventide from his seclusion, and drew near to where The Blessed One was; and having drawn near and greeted The Blessed One, he sat down respectfully at one side. And seated respectfully at one side, the venerable Malunkyaputta spoke to The Blessed One as follows: “Revered Sir, it happened to me, as I was just now in seclusion and plunged in meditation, that a consideration presented itself to my mind, as follows: ‘These theories which the Blessed One has left unelucidated, has set aside and rejected, that the world is finite, that the world is infinite, that the soul exists after death, that the soul does not exist after death, that the soul both exists and does not exist after death, that the soul neither exists nor does not exist after death, these the Blessed One does not elucidate to me. And the fact that The Blessed One does not elucidate them to me does not please me nor suit me. I will draw near to The Blessed One and inquire of him concerning this matter. If The Blessed One will elucidate (them) to me, in that case will I lead the religious life under The Blessed One. If The Blessed One will not elucidate (them) to me, in that case will I abandon religious training and return to the lower life of a layman.’” “If The Blessed One knows that the world is eternal, let The Blessed One elucidate to me that the world is not eternal; if The Blessed One knows that the world is not eternal, let The Blessed One elucidate to me that the world is not eternal. If The Blessed One does not know either that the world is eternal or that the world is not eternal, the only upright thing for one who does not know, or who has not that insight, is to say, ‘I do not know; I have not that insight.’” (And The Blessed One replied:) “Malunkyaputta, anyone who should say, ‘I will not lead the religious life under The Blessed One until The Blessed One shall elucidate (these things) to me, that person would die, Malunkyaputta, before the Tathagata had ever explained this to him. “It is as if a man had been wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions were to cure for him a physician; and the sick man were to say, ‘I will not have this arrow taken out until I have learnt the name of the man who wounded me, and to what clan he belongs.’ “Or again he were to say, ‘I will not have this arrow taken out until I have learnt whether the man who wounded me was black, or dusky, or of a yellow skin.’ “Or again he were to say, ‘I will not have this arrow taken out until I have learnt whether the man who wounded me was tall, or short, or of the middle height.’ [Many other possibilities are mentioned.] “That man would die, Malunkyaputta, without ever having learnt this. “This religious life does not depend on the dogma that the world is eternal; nor does the religious life depend on the dogma that the world is not eternal. Whether the dogma obtain that the world is eternal, or that the world is not eternal, there still remain birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair, for the extinction of which in the present life I am prescribing. “Accordingly, bear always in mind what it is that I have elucidated, and what it is that I have not elucidated. And what have I not elucidated? I have not elucidated that the world is eternal; I have not elucidated that the world is not eternal…. And why have I not elucidated this? Because this profits not, nor has it to do with the fundamentals of religion, nor tends to aversion, absence of passion, cessation, quiescence, the supernatural faculties, supreme wisdom, and Nirvana; therefore I have not elucidated it.”
Comment by philter — July 22, 2006 @ 8:54 pm
You cannot know that God exists even if you are religious because none of us has ever met God. But if you have lost your faith and sincerely ask God to give it to you again I think he does. I lost my faith and got it back. But I said to God that I had lost my faith and needed proof that he existed and he proved it. Not going to go into that story but it is an interesting one.
Comment by Heather — November 15, 2006 @ 6:58 pm
I guess I should finish the story. About a month later I got in a terrible accident and almost died from my injuries. The doctors told my parents that I was about to die. At that time I had a religious experience. That was my proof.
Comment by Heather — November 15, 2006 @ 7:07 pm