Thursday, February 9, 2012

On Faith

Faith is a form of belief.  We cannot function in the world without it.  Otherwise we would spend all of our time reasoning whether something were true, or were about to happen.  Often, we need to make snap judgements, size things up, make decisions and act.  Often there is little time for careful, thoughtful reasoning. So faith plays an important role in our day to day actions. My form of faith is that of basic optimism.  But all faiths are based on assumptions that are unproven.

There are three classifications of faith.  Of these there are the faith based on direct experience, that the sun is going to rise again tomorrow because it has risen every day preceding.  Faith based on the knowledge of those we consider experts, that the medicine will make me better.   And finally, faith in things we know to be false, but we are told that just need to have faith in, that there is a god of some form or another.  There are more of course, and I'll add to this list.

My optimism is similar to a belief in god, in that I believe things will get better, but I have no proof.  Or worse, I don't want the proof.  My fear is that they will slowly slide into the abyss. I look for signs of improvement and I see them some days.  I'm not that different from you.

Faith, belief and trust are closely linked.

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