Faith

January 26, 2011 · Posted in Tao · 2 Comments

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Via Twitter, @TheOnlyRealSage asked me if I have any words on lost faith or hope. To start with, we need to understand what these words mean. Faith is often used interchangeably with belief or trust. In such cases, to lose your faith in someone would mean a loss of trust or belief in their words or actions. Another use of “lost faith” is in a wider spiritual sense and means to become disillusioned with a particular view. In this light, Faith is the acceptance of an explanation for something that has no other reasoning that satisfies you. When you begin to doubt this explanation, you lose acceptance and eventually you’re left with no satisfactory answers.

The problem with faith in a specific system or religion is these are generally static, meaning they have little room for change. Yet answers must change as our understanding of the world changes. Anything unable to reasonably grow with our awareness will often bring us into direct conflict between our faith and our understanding. While it may be possible to make enough justifications in our minds to reconcile these differences, it’s often that we have to let go of old answers that simply no longer work for us.

Tags: <faith, religion, science, twitter>

Science, Religion, Faith and Happiness

June 2, 2009 · Posted in Social · Comment

Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

A friend and I were discussing religions (as I had been reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins), and he, like Richard, sees religion as nothing more than superstition formed by lack of knowing the real truth, which is science.

Throughout history, our religions have changed and adapted as our awareness and understandings also changed. We have gone from worshiping the sun and moon and seasons to worshiping beings that control the sun and moon and seasons. We have had pantheons that oversee almost every detail in our lives to singular omniscient deities that are seen as eternal parental figures.

Tags: <Delusion, faith, God, happiness, religion, Richard Dawkins, science, worship>