Misplaced Faith?
Concerning most religious beliefs, it is often said that a certain amount of “faith” is necessary for one to hold a consistent, complete view of creation and our place in it.
Since concepts such as “god” and “universal oneness” are unfathomable and ineffable, I fully agree that faith IS essential.
Where I disagree with most religions is where “faith” occurs within their belief systems.
Before stating my criticism of someone else’s beliefs, however, I shall first declare my own.
Looking at the world around me in as honest a way as is humanly possible (I hope), and knowing various things about our world and solar system (such as that everything we know of and have been able to analyze is formed out of the same set of elements that every other tangible entity is made of), I conclude, based upon my assessment of these apparent facts, that EVERYTHING that exists comes from a single source. What this source is, and where it came from, are complete mysteries to me. That’s my honest assessment of them.
Of course, I’m acting on faith that what scientists have been able to confirm so far is accurate. Thus, should a scientific error be discovered, since I’m attempting to make an honest assessment of the universe and my place in it I would be required to re-evaluate my beliefs to see if the error affects them in any way.
Believing, as I do, that ALL things come from the same source (“god” or, my preference, “The Divinity”), I believe that we are all governed by the same set of laws. What’s more, these laws have a single purpose; the creation and perpetuation of life. These laws, I believe, because there is no evidence to the contrary, are passive. That is, they just ARE. They don’t care if we abide by them or not, in the sense that they will feel “anger” at our disobedience. However, should we try to disobey these “laws of life” we will experience negative consequences, if not immediately, in the long run. This isn’t because the Divinity is mad at us, but because, since all divine laws tend toward the creation and perpetuation of life, our puny defiance represents a disconnection from the Divinity. That is, from life. And anything that attempts to disconnect itself from life is, or tends toward, death.
Viewing life in this manner causes me to recognize that, just as a flower, a tree, a dog, or any other living thing has a set of “natural laws” governing its behavior, I, too, have such laws governing me, and those laws, like all the others, tend toward the perpetuation of life; both my personal life, and that of the “whole.”
The difficulty for humans, I think, is that we’ve developed a conscious mind that enables us to view ourselves as separate from the whole. This is what I believe is the main point of the “Adam and Eve” story. While Adam and Eve “walked with God,” that is, lived in accordance with their natures, knowing no other way, they had bliss. When they became able to question their surroundings, they became able to question their actions and thoughts, which enabled them to act against their inner laws or “god.”
Since I recognize the existence of “divine law” within me, as it exists in all other living organisms, I understand that I have an obligation to live my life in accordance with those laws. This means, first, that I must accurately understand what those laws are telling me to do and, second, resist the attempts by my ego to throw me off course.
This is where MY faith comes into play. Although there is absolutely no guarantee that my life will be happy, fulfilling, or good in any way whatsoever, I believe that if I live my life in accordance with the “divine law” within me, I will, at least, have THE BEST LIFE THAT IS POSSIBLE FOR ME, and this is all that I can hope for, and all that the Divinity demands.
In living this way, I can take comfort in knowing that, by living in accordance with my (our) nature, I am fulfilling my obligation to the entire “cycle of life.” As I said, there is no guarantee that my life will be “good” as a result. More importantly, there’s absolutely no guarantee that I’m correct in any of what I’ve said up to this point.
But then, that IS, in fact, my point. Having made an honest assessment of the information that is available to me, and choosing a standard of conduct for my life based upon that assessment, I HAVE FAITH that if I live my life in accordance with that understanding, I will have the best life that is available to me.
Thus, my faith comes AT THE END of my assessment, when my knowledge and understanding have reached their limit.
Most religions BEGIN with faith. Christians, for instance, begin with a faith that there is a conscious “God” that feels all kinds of human emotions; love, anger, pleasure, jealousy, etc., and has all manner of human attributes; gender, a face (which implies a head), hands (which implies arms), and legs (since it is said that we “walk with Him”). They take it on faith that this conscious being created everything in six days and then needed rest, after which he had a “son” whom he sent to earth to “die for our sins.”
Since their entire religion is FOUNDED upon faith, many of these people spend their entire lives seeking only such information that tends to CONFIRM their beliefs, rather than questioning the world around them in order to sharpen their understanding of life.
Consequently, people whose religion BEGINS with faith are trapped in a mode of life that forces them to continually DENY reality whenever it contradicts their beliefs. And, since “reality” is actually a manifestation of the Divinity, and the Divinity promotes only “life,” these people are in fact denying life.
Conversely, when I am confronted with a contradiction of my beliefs concerning life, I’d much rather admit my error and change my ways in accordance with the “new” information.
Is that not how the rest of nature works? When an organism becomes sick or injured, does it not heal itself? When such an organism encounters an obstacle to its growth, does it not seek endlessly for a way around it, so that it may continue to grow and live, giving up only after losing its life in the struggle?
ALL life consists of change. NOTHING happens without SOMETHING changing.
And yet, for a person whose beliefs are founded upon faith, everything must be interpreted so that the original faith can remain intact. The entire world, the entire UNIVERSE, must be shrunk in order to fit into one’s view of it all.
I worked for 9 years with several devout Christians who were VERY firm and active with their beliefs. They knew that I didn’t believe as they did, and would try to “convert” me. At the time, I had yet to develop my own views, having only recently thrown off my own Christian beliefs.
I’ve recently returned to that workplace after a 12 year absence, during which I DID develop my beliefs, as related above.
Almost as soon as I arrived I was challenged about religion by two of these Christians. I noticed that this time, however, when I was able to respond to them with a coherent, logical belief system of my own (one which I could explain a whole lot better than they could explain theirs), they were put off balance, and have refrained from engaging me in debate.
In reality, I wasn’t saying that THEIR beliefs are “wrong.” I was simply stating my own beliefs, in comparison with theirs.
But even that seemed too much for them. They seem distinctly afraid to push me too far, lest they hear something that they might not be able to rationalize or deny.
What a sad existence.