Faith is often a theme that is on everyone’s lips. I must have faith. Faith in myself, faith in God, Gaia or the universe, faith in my society, faith in my family, faith in my partner. It just runs on, doesn’t it? But in reality, in truth, few of us have any faith at all in my estimation.
And this is a problem in the modern society. We seem to be in love with our phones. Why? Because the phone makes me a hero. It makes me a superstar.
But when I put down the phone, there’s nothing there and this is a problem. Nietzsche famously in his book, The Gay Science, said that God is dead and we have killed him. And what he meant of course was that the value of God had declined because we’d become modern beings even in the nineteenth century. The technology was advancing. The industrial generation was underway.
Industrial age. Why did we need something further than what was there? Now, why did we need faith? So what are some of the interesting definitions of faith if you were to sit back for a moment? Well, certainly, we could view faith as trust, I guess you could say.
We trust in God. We trust in our self. You know, we trust in our family. If we’re really sincere about this, great. And we don’t need evidence for faith, do we?
Thomas Aquinas has the five proofs for the existence of God. But in reality, the Orthodox Christians don’t care. They put that away. They have faith in the spiritual power of God. His energy, perhaps not his essence because you can’t access his essence but you can certainly access his energy.
So faith in that sense is a commitment to a way of life. Soren Kierkegaard, leap of faith, inner certainty. Faith must be also in a certain. You know, there are so many changes in life, and life is so very fickle that anything could happen all the time. And I must be at great peace with myself.
What is the great quote from John Lennon? Everything will be fine in the end. And if it’s not fine, it’s not the end. So in other words, I must have faith that it will all be fine. I will succeed if I push on, if I get on the path towards success, whatever that means to me.
I will achieve what I’m supposed to achieve in this life. I will be successful because in that sense, faith is an enormous journey, isn’t it? Because when I’m 20 years old, when I first uncover that there is something bigger than me, that spiritual awakening that I think most beings, most of us have to a certain extent, then we know, gosh, this is a very, very, very long life. And I’m going to have to deepen my understanding of this reality that I occupy. Right?
So I see in this sense, faith is a journey. It’s a journey that carries me forward bit by bit, piece by piece. And in that sense, almost like Hegel, I guess, in a way because Hegel in his Zeitgeist believes that history is the unfolding of God’s will. Berdyaev, also another man to research. Nikolai Berdyaev into the early twentieth century also believing that history was God’s hand unfolding, whatever interpretation you put on that. So we come to the ultimate secret to faith.
I must have faith in myself. I must have faith in me because if I have faith in me, then I will be able to uncover the truth about me, the truth about reality, the truth about God as I see him. And I will come to that wonderful contentment that we all desire in life. You know, if you ask young people many times, what do you want to be in life? And they always say rich.
I wanna be rich. I want more money than Midas. But we all know the tale of Midas. His daughter eventually was turned into gold by his hand, so he had to ask the gods to return him to a mortal man because it’s not enough to be financially rich. You must also be spiritually rich if you’re going to uncover where you’re going in life.
You know, in that sense, faith is a unifying force, isn’t it? Because you think to yourself that psychologically, I’m going to be integrated and then I’m going to be open to whatever occurs in my life. I’m going to open each and every day with a great understanding that today is a gift. One more day. Certainly at 68 years old.
Certainly, it’s a gift at 68 years old. It really is. You know? And you do have that kind of appreciation. So, gosh, find faith.
Faith in something bigger than yourself, God, Gaia, or the universe. I think this is very true because very quickly, if you have no faith at all, it’s directly correlated in our society now to depression. True. So if you attend some religious institution, a church, a temple, a synagogue, even a walk in the park wherein you talk to something higher than you, you are calmer and happier. If you believe in absolutely nothing and in a sense of hopelessness and despair, you’re guaranteed to suffer.
So inquire. There is something bigger than you for sure in this universe. Every time you walk in the forest or in a park, you can see it. See it in children, babies as well. Right?
So find your faith extremely important for your well-being. And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is necessary. Certainly, if you’re going to discover your true faith and critical thinking is great. Absolutely great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.