MtM 07 - On faith

It occurred to me last week how difficult it is to put concepts like Faith into words. I was standing before a class of adolescent children – capable of seeing through adult nonsense – and wished to express in my own words the formula: “Faith is an assurance of things hoped for and a conviction of things unseen”. For them it was too confusing, so I told them a story. Suppose you know somebody who was born blind – a boy who never saw the sky before – and you try to describe to him what clouds look like. However, he doesn't really believe they exist, because he can't see or touch them. But you know different, because you can see what he cannot. Faith is like this - someday you will know. You will see what you believe with a different kind of experience, seeing with your mind, with your soul – not with your eyes. A journey of faith, whether Buddhist, Jewish or Muslim, is a dialogue with God who remains by definition transcendent to all our senses. You can think of it like climbing up an unexplored mountain, or rafting down an uncharted river, where the exciting part is not the stuff you already know, but the things you don’t know. These discoveries help you make sense of your relationships, your existence and what makes your life worth living. This is what we seek as we fearlessly sail the spiritual sea, longing for eternal truths beyond our mortal being. What makes us do this? 

St. Augustine confessed that “God moves us to delight in praising him, because he created us for himself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in him!” Sixteen centuries later, we still find wisdom in these words. I believe, Faith is planted in our hearts by the Divine, who ardently wishes to be known and loved more than we can imagine. With faith as a powerful magnet, God acts where he finds us, leading us where he wants to, working with us where we are in life, without demanding, but always hoping for our love. What sense does life have if we don’t reach beyond the tight confines of our individualism? It’s like water trapped in a festering pool, evaporating and rotting. First of all the Water of Life must flow naturally and continuously to keep its vitality. Our lives are the same: if we are like a water-hose blocked by kinks, how can the Spirit flow through us? With every twist the passage narrows, feelings are suppressed, life is stifled … we degrade, we suffer, we rot. Our lives are like the hose, and Faith is the power which elevates us above banal drudgery. Faith eliminates the kinks we accumulate through life, so the Spirit may flow strong inside us. After clearing our blockages, whatever they may be, we’ll be better able to “find our good” by adhering to the divine plan, which Faith has been directing us towards all along.