I have come to learn something about the existence of belief that I would like to share. I know many of us go through times where they have doubts about belief and faith, and whether they really exist in the rational realm of things. For me every attempt that tries to reason directly with faith reaches the faculty with which it is reasoning: the mind, and then stops.
On the other hand, there is a different kind of reasoning that might provide more light: the reasoning where you get to observe the impact faith has on you and your life, like putting faith in a lab and making some tests, and using the tools we’re given to observe. What I’m going to share today is one of my observations.
I often wonder how some deeds that I consider wrong do not cause other doers the turmoil it causes me (or vice versa). Also, I wonder just the same how the same deeds do not cause me the same psychological turmoil when I do them at different times or points in my life. The only answer that I feel is right is simply faith.
In order to feel guilty or ashamed (or to put it more aptly: responsible), you need to have a specific set of beliefs; in rules or commandments decreed by a deity, or even in a group of morals of your own creation that you live by. The very fact that you are a believer directly impacts the way you feel about how you live and act. If belief does not exist, you would not feel any kind of guilt or shame whatever you do. The belief that something is right determines how you live.
Belief isn’t one or the same among people. As I said, although non-believers openly discard the notion of faith or a deity, some of them live up to higher moral standards than believers themselves. It really is about how strong your faith in what you believe is, and how often you practice what you preach. This also answers my early wondering about why the effect a deed has on me would differ from one time to another: because the strength of my faith changes.
I bring the discussion now to God: if the rule you live by isn’t really something of your creation, and also not something that can be associated with a habit, but simply that: a rule. If these rules can be constituents of a religion that you adhere to; then you need only look inside your self and see whether your belief is actually there when you break any of these rules. If you feel nothing, then you are probably not a believer in the rule or your faith is weak and needs work. If you feel something, then that’s proof that faith exists. It’s really between you and that self of yours.
One of the most interesting properties of faith is that it is not constant. If it were, then there would be no practical side to it. In order to have faith, you must have some sort of practice. For some this practice is religion, for others it is just their morals, but either case, all are believers of different kinds and colors.
ibhog 