Faith. A revered and despised word/action/belief. . . is my topic today. I will specifically concentrate on religious faith. Obviously there appears at first glance to be a huge difference in faith in a specific person or group of people, v. faith in institutions/society/science/belief systems outside of religion, v faith in the unseen.
I personally have the opinion that Faith in God is beautiful because I cannot explain it. The reason I can believe in God is because I cannot put into words what I feel about God- and I do not know who God is. I know that if I could explain it to another individual, I would cease to believe. Because the concept of God is outside of what I can comprehend- there is comfort in knowing that much of the unseen universe is not understood by so many individuals who live on earth. While humans theorize about what might be out there in the vast space that is the other, not our world, there can be no definite answer because it is beyond our capacity- to reach it- feel it- mark it- with our always want to know/define/answer/make sense of. Thank God there are parts of space we cannot reach because in the unknown is where my idea of God exists.
Readers or nonreaders may say- "Más, that doesn't make sense. You only believe because you and others cannot prove your the idea of God wrong. That doesn't prove you right." Indeed- logic and science ask that a theory be proved wrong, not right, to verify that it be true. And there we are! Faith. XD I can't be proven wrong- because my idea of God can exist within science, or outside of it.
The more peculiar thing to me in examining other people's faith in God is the want from individuals to explain and defend their belief to others, as if to win an argument. And in these moments I believe the individual has lost faith- or at least partly. The individual can explain why they have faith, but that explanation doesn't usually change the other's set of beliefs. I believe faith shouldn't be argued at someone. (At least I have not seen it work very often, and just because someone wins an argument doesn't prove anything. As in logic- the conclusion can be valid, but unsound. In my opinion arguing damages the idea of faith and the essence that many argue God to be.)
Many people argue about who God is as they choose from any number of written book- and the opinion about which book is most correct. I find it ironic that most people born near a dominant religion cling to what they are most familiar with, but never assume that that is the reason they chose the book or the God they did. (At the same time who am I? I don't use a book to define God- and I do not agree with maybe anyone about who God is. I just have the idea- and a world- and myself.) Because I do not use a book to define God or my faith, people find my belief maybe more absurd than other religions/systems of belief. But I generally keep my beliefs about God to myself- and that is also very different from many sects of different religions where spreading the belief of God is sometimes encouraged or mandatory.
Even as I find the idea of explaining religious/metaphysical faith incredulous/contradictory to the action, I find the struggle to explain those beliefs striking and oh so beautiful. I find that the argument with others is often an argument with the self. Faith in the unseen is irrational on all accounts and we as logical creatures grasp for a way to show others and to show ourselves that we have not lost our minds. When really- we have not- we just cannot prove "beyond a show of a doubt" because we doubt. . . we are Thomas. We are human. I am so in love with the enigma that is the human. We want always to feel right! That our beliefs are the best beliefs! And that is why we have them. And when we are faced with someone telling us we are wrong- anger and other random emotions bursts forth. And then war of some kind begins- inside and outside ourselves. In the name of being correct. In the name of faith- in all of the disparity we have created it to be. I do not love the war that we create, but our inability to truly examine ourselves is amazing.
I believe that we should be open for knowing that everything we believe can't possibly be right. We are never beyond learning. And when individuals grasp so tight to science or to religion there is a part of the self and the world that is ignored.So we have two derivations: one with the conclusion "God Exists" and the other "God Doesn't Exist" - and neither of these can be proven valid and sound. So belief in either is faith. The only lack of faith the the suspension of belief.
That, to me, is beautiful. . . even as it is chaos and nonsense. X)
later,
Más
