Verily, I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, it shall be done.
— Matthew 21: 21
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We can define faith in such a way as to add it to our definition of worldview along with feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values. “A professor of the philosophy of religion, Henry Nelson Wieman, pointed out important distinctions in meaning among the terms: belief, knowledge, and faith. Faith is accepting a belief in such a way that it transforms one’s way of living. It becomes faith when it shapes the controlling loyalties of a life.”[i] It becomes true faith when it supports Oneness as the basis for the worldview of humankind, the True self as the only identity and compassion as the life-sustaining behavior that would enable the creation of a sustainable human community.
Faith is not built on disquisitions vain; The things we must believe are few and plain.
— John Dryden
You can see where we are going with this. Faith involves intention and choices. When we choose to respond rather than react, when we choose P-A over P-B, we are exercising faith in Oneness and the transcendent value of the present moment. Faith is a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. It is a synonym for trust in that it is a confident belief in the truth, value or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Indeed, what we must come to believe is faith and trust in Simple Reality.
Everything happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.
— Marcus Aurelius
Faith is being able to answer in the affirmative to Einstein’s question: Is the universe friendly? A person who does not have faith in the “friendliness” of the universe might express his attitude as Shakespeare did in Macbeth: “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” It is not so much that this sentiment lacks faith but insight or understanding. A deeper understanding is voiced by Harry Rathbun: “The ‘nobler hypothesis’ holds that life does have meaning, discoverable by anyone who seeks it earnestly, wholeheartedly, patiently, and persistently.”[ii]
Fear is faith in what we don’t want.
— Anonymous
There is a relationship between faith and surrender or letting go. We cannot cling to our old identity if we are ever going to assume a new one. We cannot cling to P-B if our goal is to shift to P-A. The advantages of having enough trust or faith in P-A to stop clinging to P-B are enumerated by Piero Ferrucci:
- Accepting things as they are, we save effort and energy.
- Finding our good in the present, not in the past or in the future, we experience fulfillment.
- By not clinging to our ideas, we become more flexible.
- By not demanding that the world work as we wish, we are freed from innumerable worries.
- Letting go, we find the joy of living.[iii]
[i] Rathbun, Harry J. Creative Initiative. Palo Alto: Creative Initiative Foundation, 1976, p. 158.
[ii] Ibid., p. 71.
[iii] Ferrucci, Piero. Inevitable Grace. Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1990, p. 272.
