I won’t attempt to put up any front: I’ve never been a very religious soul. Despite going to church often as a child, I never really felt a sense of identification with religion. In fact, I felt something of a disconnect, perhaps due to the mandatory nature of my attendance. Not only did the ideas behind other worldly faith seem counter intuitive to a boy obsessed with gazing at both Petri dishes and the stars, but it also seemed a bit too fanciful.
Despite my movement away from it, though, I would never say I acted in an outlandish or egregious manner. I respected the beliefs of others, even if they were different from my own. Now, much of the same sentiment is true today, but I feel that I am realizing a certain utility to religion, or more specifically, spirituality in general.
Before I go on, I want to reiterate my intent not to offend believers of any faith or pathway. I have immense respect for those faithful to a religion, and in some ways I am regretful of my strictly scientific outlook on the world. If anything, I’d like to urge you to keep on believing, and here’s why:
Faith Serves as Guidance to Something Greater
Because I spent my childhood in a religious setting, I frequently interacted with those on a spiritual pathway. As I became older, I soon realized the majority of those around me were on such pathways, with focuses on different religions and belief systems. In some fashion or another, it seemed everyone had some guiding principle – something “higher up” that they clung to.
Upon self-reflection, I discovered I too had this – it was just embodied as something my mind perceived as scientific and logical. And that’s when it hit me: faith is not simply a child of religion. Rather, faith is both the product and prerequisite to all beliefs. It is a motivator of guidance and mental balance. Having faith in your beliefs can rescue you from doubt, earn respect from others, and above all, provide you with a model to follow, or at least a rationale for how to live your life.
After rereading the teachings of Jesus Christ, after exploring Eastern religion, after discussing personal spirituality with family, friends, and strangers, I’ve discovered one main undercurrent: each form of faith is in pursuit of better living. Faith in something beyond the self consistently finds itself in the business of helping others, and there is always business to be sought out.
Be Faithful
For that, I find myself seeking new forms of faith to read up on, discuss, and pick apart in my mind. I have even come to develop my own set of beliefs, all based on the faith I have in myself, my fellow people, and the universe as a whole.
Often people point out that faith is blind – it is a belief in the unknown. I say this is what dares us to dream and what motivates us to move forward. Find a religion that speaks to you or develop your own set of beliefs. Whatever it is, it is crucial to believe in something, however outrageous it may be.
No one person can know all there is to know, and because of that, you’ve got to have faith.
Originally posted June 20th 2011.
June 20, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I think I understand what you are going for but your conclusion wouldn’t follow. “Find a religion that speaks to you or develop your own set of beliefs. Whatever it is, it is crucial to believe in something, however outrageous it may be.” Really? How about the really popular religion of free-market capitalism (it would fit your definition of faith)? It sees nature and our body as mechanistic, denies any inherent worth to non-human life, and determines the worth of activities, products, workers, etc by their profitability. This is a very ‘productive and successful’ faith on its own grounds but I imagine both of us are against its way of seeing the world in general. How then can you make such an open, relativistic, utilitarian, and intentionally individualistic conclusion?
June 21, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Tripp – you make a great point about my generalized use of the term “faith.” True, it could readily be applied to market beliefs and broader social policy. Encouraging faith in anything would definitely lead to some slippery slope hypotheticals where it would be difficult, if not impossible, to justify the practice. However, I think you missed my underlying thesis here; religions, spiritual beliefs, and even moral codes often create pathways for us to model individually, and while the specifics of those pathways may be different in nature and purpose, each requires the follower to practice some level of faith. This is, by and large, a positive thing in peoples’ lives, providing them with hope, direction, and a sense of understanding.
Open, relativistic, utilitarian, and individualistic? Absolutely. I can make such a conclusion because this article is, more or less, a personal value judgement on faith, not an attempt to develop an framework or theoretical base to build serious arguments upon. What’s more, my own experiences were what largely drove me to my thesis – I’ve met, discussed, and debated faith with so many, I now think the practice of faith is inherently relativistic, largely because faith can be applied to so many things.
I wonder: what is faith to you? Is it confined to a single definition or practice? Is the definition naturally elusive or much easier to pin down than I have made it seem?
June 20, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Faith is a Candle…That Lights the Way…and Shines Through All Darkness….
June 20, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Jesse, you have really done some very thoughtful homework on the subject of faith, belief systems and the search for authentic spirituality. You summarize your analysis by saying that for you, it is about having faith in your beliefs as you pursue a better way of living. For me, it is not about having faith in a belief system it is about cultivating a relationship with the source of your belief system. Was it the theologian Karl Barth that said, “Let go and let God?” And, as we pursue a better way of living…sometimes our lives take a tragic turn and “Who” we rely on is crucial to seeing us through. You obviously have a intellectual and scientific mind…a wonderful and very needed gift in this world. I would encourage you to honor it and continue to use it wisely.
June 21, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Doris, thank you for the kind words and adding your thoughts. After reading your comment, this idea about the “who” we rely on in faith struck me as a critical element in faith, especially those of religious and spiritual nature, and I will continue my journey in understanding with this in mind.
July 13, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Faith is interconnected to eternity. If you have spent some time looking at both ends through the microscope and telescope, you undoubtably have confronted yourself with the incomprehensible nature of time and space without end.
The truth is we all have a innate sense of eternity built into us. It causes us to wonder, “what’s (who’s) at the very bottom of all this?”
Our capacity to have faith is verification that things we cannot see do exist. As we drill down farther through the telescope or push out further through the telescope we are proving this to be true. For each mystery solved a multitude of new enigmas are unveiled.
One question to consider about faith; is there one truth, or many truths? One truth speaks to something greater than myself, an absolute that I may never see, but absolutely exists. Many truths are subjective to each individual which disqualifies all but one from being the truth.
Truth is only truth if it stands alone apart from my subjective opinion. Otherwise, it is just another lie I choose to believe is truth.
Faith can be based on either, the absolute truth or lies I chose to believe to be truth. Who can know the truth? No one, unless it is revealed from the source, the absolute I may never see, but without a doubt does exist.
My recommendation? When searching for something or someone to put your faith in, set the highest standard for yourself: seek the truth. How outrageous is that?