Faith, how do we have it and how do we loose it? When someone suggests to me to "have some faith," how do I do that? If it is there, then I will know it but if its not, how can I generate more of it? Is faith developed over time, based on experiences we have or based on some deeper knowing? If I have had faith in the past, how does it get lost?
Perhaps there are two types of faith, experiential faith and innate core faith. Experiential faith is based on a building of trust. Core faith is based on an inner knowing that it is so. There is a Sanskrit term I like "Hari Om Tat Sat." It's meaning, very loosely and perhaps inadequately on my part, is "and so it is," or "as it is so" or even "so be it." Core faith is like "Hari Om Tat Sat." It is just there. We don't know how it got there or why we know it, and we don't question it. It just is. If we feel faith must be built or developed, then we must be feeling that there is something in us that is missing... some part of us not whole.
I have an intellectual understanding that I am whole and that I am expression of divine perfection; however, I find myself still seeking. There is something contradictory here. There must be somewhere I am fooling myself. I say fooling myself because it sounds sweeter than saying, "I am lying to myself." No one ever wants to admit that they are being untruthful to themselves or anybody else.
Those of us who believe there is a Great Mystery, a Supreme Power, a Pure Conscious, a Unified Field, a God, a Goddess, a Godhead or whatever one calls that something that is responsible for our creation and connects us to each other and the universe we live in, may question why we think there is this all-governing Source from which we came. No matter how many books we read, no matter how many lectures we hear, no matter how many teachers we have and how much knowledge we retain, for one to realize God we will realize there is a place we reach that cannot be known by the mind or experienced through the senses. That to me is the Great Mystery and to understand that takes not only faith, but a great leap of faith.
I believe we all believe in something. Anyone who believes in something has the ability to have faith. I do not believe there is anyone who does not have something they believe in. We are all capable of believing in something. How do we choose to believe in what we believe it in? It gets tricky here, because we have an intellectual mind that is not sold on the ideals of faith.
I would say you can categorize a spiritual seeker as faith based or knowledge based. I would define a seeker as someone who feels there is something still to know, and I would put myself in this category. I am a perfectionist by nature. If I cannot truthfully say, from every aspect of by being... mentally, emotionally and physically, that I am not missing anything; therefore completely whole, than I will admit I am a seeker. As a seeker, I would say I am 70% intellectually based and 25% faith based. That leaves 5%. In that 5% I am undecided. In that 5% is my problem. There is 5% of of my consciousness that is either lacking knowledge, lacking faith or perhaps the truthfulness to take a stand one way or the other.
Courageousness is not my problem. I am of a tough breed. I was not bred to be weak or fearful. I was bred to have faith, courage and accept what is. What confused me was when I started to think about things. All this thinking caused me to question my faith. If core faith cannot be questioned, that means the faith I am questioning is experiential faith. Experiences are not always as they seem, because our emotions shape the experiences we have. To blindly trust experiential faith may not be wise, as it may be based on an emotion we had regarding an event that occurred. That is why we have intellect, for discernment.
There is a knowing that is within us. We all know it as that voice, that calling or that intuition. Why it is hidden is part of the mystery. I really doubt there is a plot to hide it, but more so a desire to imagine a different reality than the one we are experiencing. That's where we start lying to ourselves.
Life is as it is in the moment.... Hari Om Tat Sat. We have nothing beyond the moment we are in. These are just meaningless words unless they are our convictions. How can we believe in something we do not know? We cannot. It just happens. It's not about belief. It's about conviction, and conviction comes from a faith that we know we know. So, what can we do, if we can do anything, about having more faith? Nothing, we can do nothing. A belief becomes a conviction when the intellect has tested it, the emotions have embraced it and an action was taken proving to our self in a multi-dimensional way that we are not fooling ourselves any longer. That's called a leap of faith. That's the missing 5%... the unknown... the Great Mystery.
We are evolving in this very moment... right here, right now without any effort on our part and often even in spite of ourselves. Everyone has consciousness. Everyone is evolving. Everyone has faith. Having more faith requires nothing more than recognizing it's presence. If we can't see it in our self, then we should look at the mirrors all around us. If we watch closely those beings we consider to have great faith, we will see that same reflection in in each in everyone of us. The testing will happen, the opening will occur and the leap will be leapt.
Perhaps there are two types of faith, experiential faith and innate core faith. Experiential faith is based on a building of trust. Core faith is based on an inner knowing that it is so. There is a Sanskrit term I like "Hari Om Tat Sat." It's meaning, very loosely and perhaps inadequately on my part, is "and so it is," or "as it is so" or even "so be it." Core faith is like "Hari Om Tat Sat." It is just there. We don't know how it got there or why we know it, and we don't question it. It just is. If we feel faith must be built or developed, then we must be feeling that there is something in us that is missing... some part of us not whole.
I have an intellectual understanding that I am whole and that I am expression of divine perfection; however, I find myself still seeking. There is something contradictory here. There must be somewhere I am fooling myself. I say fooling myself because it sounds sweeter than saying, "I am lying to myself." No one ever wants to admit that they are being untruthful to themselves or anybody else.
Those of us who believe there is a Great Mystery, a Supreme Power, a Pure Conscious, a Unified Field, a God, a Goddess, a Godhead or whatever one calls that something that is responsible for our creation and connects us to each other and the universe we live in, may question why we think there is this all-governing Source from which we came. No matter how many books we read, no matter how many lectures we hear, no matter how many teachers we have and how much knowledge we retain, for one to realize God we will realize there is a place we reach that cannot be known by the mind or experienced through the senses. That to me is the Great Mystery and to understand that takes not only faith, but a great leap of faith.
I believe we all believe in something. Anyone who believes in something has the ability to have faith. I do not believe there is anyone who does not have something they believe in. We are all capable of believing in something. How do we choose to believe in what we believe it in? It gets tricky here, because we have an intellectual mind that is not sold on the ideals of faith.
I would say you can categorize a spiritual seeker as faith based or knowledge based. I would define a seeker as someone who feels there is something still to know, and I would put myself in this category. I am a perfectionist by nature. If I cannot truthfully say, from every aspect of by being... mentally, emotionally and physically, that I am not missing anything; therefore completely whole, than I will admit I am a seeker. As a seeker, I would say I am 70% intellectually based and 25% faith based. That leaves 5%. In that 5% I am undecided. In that 5% is my problem. There is 5% of of my consciousness that is either lacking knowledge, lacking faith or perhaps the truthfulness to take a stand one way or the other.
Courageousness is not my problem. I am of a tough breed. I was not bred to be weak or fearful. I was bred to have faith, courage and accept what is. What confused me was when I started to think about things. All this thinking caused me to question my faith. If core faith cannot be questioned, that means the faith I am questioning is experiential faith. Experiences are not always as they seem, because our emotions shape the experiences we have. To blindly trust experiential faith may not be wise, as it may be based on an emotion we had regarding an event that occurred. That is why we have intellect, for discernment.
There is a knowing that is within us. We all know it as that voice, that calling or that intuition. Why it is hidden is part of the mystery. I really doubt there is a plot to hide it, but more so a desire to imagine a different reality than the one we are experiencing. That's where we start lying to ourselves.
Life is as it is in the moment.... Hari Om Tat Sat. We have nothing beyond the moment we are in. These are just meaningless words unless they are our convictions. How can we believe in something we do not know? We cannot. It just happens. It's not about belief. It's about conviction, and conviction comes from a faith that we know we know. So, what can we do, if we can do anything, about having more faith? Nothing, we can do nothing. A belief becomes a conviction when the intellect has tested it, the emotions have embraced it and an action was taken proving to our self in a multi-dimensional way that we are not fooling ourselves any longer. That's called a leap of faith. That's the missing 5%... the unknown... the Great Mystery.
We are evolving in this very moment... right here, right now without any effort on our part and often even in spite of ourselves. Everyone has consciousness. Everyone is evolving. Everyone has faith. Having more faith requires nothing more than recognizing it's presence. If we can't see it in our self, then we should look at the mirrors all around us. If we watch closely those beings we consider to have great faith, we will see that same reflection in in each in everyone of us. The testing will happen, the opening will occur and the leap will be leapt.
