What is faith? What is faith? Well, by definition, faith, of course, is trust or confidence, a strong belief usually associated with religion, of course, and the traditional thought. Now, the first person, of course, I must have faith in is me. I must believe to a certain extent that there is some uniqueness to me.
Now, we live in a world that seems to be dominated increasingly by a concept of nihilism. Now nihilism was actually a term that was popularized by a man by the name of Ivan Turgenev and he wrote a book which I really recommend, Fathers and Sons. Young bright kids just coming from university question what’s it all about. Right? And, you know, at 20 years of age or so, you will do the same.
Most of us will do the same. We will question what’s life all about. Now, perhaps the atheists, the new atheists as the movement is called, new atheism, fundamentally states that there is nothing beyond me. There is no God, if you will, or gods. Nothing.
I’m here, this little bit of smudge on humanity and I disappear at the end of my life. That’s it. Now there are other people, however, that have a profound sense of something more, something bigger, something ethereal, if you will. So some place between those two sides, nothing and everything is faith. And it’s curious because the average person who is healthy psychologically, seemingly has a strong belief in something, in something bigger than the self.
So I’m the kind of person who believes in Pascal’s wager. Now Pascal was a 17th century French philosopher and he said, well, maybe there is no god, but, of course, maybe there is as well. So why not believe? And if there isn’t, so be it and if there is, even better. So it became quite famous as such.
Right? So I think it’s an interesting way to approach life that my life has an intrinsic meaning. Now, of course, when you stand there, in my case, I was, I think, a little bit older. I was maybe 22 And I was at a precipice in some beach in the West Coast of Vancouver Island in the storm crying, where is God? Similar to the man the other day in the church in Warsaw, Where is God?
And I was answered. I feel that I found my answer. Now each of us, of course, must find their own answer. They must find their own idea of reality. I think it’s very important but you must find one.
So if you say there’s absolutely nothing, I think you won’t live as good a life as if you believe there is something more, whatever that means. My gosh. Whatever that means to me. So what do I do? Well, I think you begin to believe that there is something more, that you’re here for a purpose.
You have value in your life. Your life is important, not in a vain sense, but in the sense of an intrinsic worth, if you will. And then you hunt around, you continue to write in your notebook, and you hunt around for your mission in life and it’s there, I believe. It’s there or it isn’t. Because if you say that there’s no purpose to life, you’re right.
There is no purpose to life. Done. Right? Why bother? But if you say there is something more but you don’t know what it is, then you can begin the journey.
But this is all up to you because increasingly, you’re going to find that you are alone and people that you love as close as they may be are still a body away. You can never jump inside their psyche at the same time and view the world in the same way. Cannot be done. Now at this most difficult, solipsism is an absolute disease or curse and I don’t mean to that extent because obviously people are similar to me but they are not me. The only pure relationship I can have is with the universe.
God, the universe, Gaia, whatever that means. Right? Now as an aside, you can check this. Spend a little time with people perhaps that are on the street begging and ask why are you doing this and many people will tell you that they are essentially victims unless they have, of course, mental illness which is a totally separate subject. But let’s say they’re sane.
They’re just on the street and they’re begging and you stop and you ask, why? And they will give you an answer. I’m here because I don’t have any work or I don’t have a place to stay because of some circumstance. I lost all my money. I lost my love, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Don’t be a victim in your life. Don’t be a victim. Be a hero in the strife. Truly, this is an essential component of faith. I must believe in me.
I must believe in me. 3 people that I have read somewhat that are interesting people, one is Alvin Plantinga. He’s a Christian philosopher. Interesting man. There’s a man called Manny Friedman. He’s a Jewish rabbi of all things and then, finally, my favorite Seth Guru. I went to his ashram in combator in Southern India about 5 years ago for a yoga conference. Really interesting experience. Right? But find your own experience.
I’m only trying to share my experiences so you can identify that we all have them. Mine are not any more unique than yours for sure. And ultimately, faith, trust and confidence, and a strong belief in something starting with me. For sure. Why not?
And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is everything because it helps with your faith and your belief and critical thinking is great. God bless. You take care. Bye bye.