Faith
Today I contemplated what faith is and what faith
means. To start with I decided to research a “dictionary” meaning…what does
faith really mean?
“Faith is a belief, trust, or confidence, not based on logic,
reason, or empirical data, but based fundamentally on volition
often associated with a transpersonal
relationship with God, a higher power, a person, elements of nature, and/or a perception of the human race as a whole. Faith can be placed
in a person, inanimate object, state of affairs, proposition or body of propositions such as
a religious creed.” Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith
“belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by
fact.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith
“ complete confidence in a person or plan” “loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person” http://www.onelook.com/?w=faith&ls=a
So faith is defined as a confidence or belief in
something that is not always entirely tangible. Human beings on the whole
require proof to believe so my next question is how does faith develop?
Faith develops after we acknowledge our belief/s,
therefore if we believe in something we have confidence in it. I also believe
in order to develop faith we need strength of convictions, to establish
principles by which we live. Faith is closely associated with religion and
there are multitudes of cases describing the effect of faith not only on the
individual but on masses. Faith has lead people to make momentous sacrifices
and to behave in ways which would not be normal for them but why?
Is it a reflection of inner selves which strive for
something to believe in other then what we can see? Is it the need for us as a
race to believe in more then what we experience?
Faith is one of the most important aspects of any
religion or fundamental belief. It is
closely linked with spiritual experiences, however blind faith has its
limitations and in this case could be termed non rational.
Historically, there are many cases of science
discovering or proving theories which for so many years were objects of faith
and belief. Is it necessary for the universe and all it contains to be
empirically proven by science? Do we need solid proof to believe that something
exists?
The answer is obviously no. Despite science
developing at a great rate there are still many things we are yet to know or
understand.
This leads me to contemplate what faith means to
me…for me faith is not necessarily religion bound, but consists of a series of
beliefs or ethics that I live by. Faith to me is a deep confidence and trust
that what I believe in is true and right. It is the certainty that all I
believe in exists in some dimension whether or not there is physical proof of
existence.
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