Our culture views
"people of faith" as those who subscribe to some religion or who believe in the existence of God. Unfortunately,
this creates the misunderstanding that a person can
"opt out of faith" if they are not convinced that God
exists. It also becomes a basis for religious people to create
hurtful distinctions between themselves and others as they qualify the
validity of another person's faith, not unlike the
Star Bellied
Sneetches.
I would like to invite all comers into a wider and more mature perspective.
It's the perspective that everyone and everything is spiritual. It's also so much more. Let me show you.
All people are people of faith. Faith is merely the function of the truth that we possess and apply.
- When we climb a flight of stairs we believe they will support our weight and
the climbing is the act of faith. Unless they are rickety. Then faith is not climbing.
- We have faith that a digital message will work its way through a tiny microprocessor and then beam itself to a satellite in orbit and back to another digital receiver and transducer, but we call it a text message.
- We have faith that we will see tomorrow.
Even the staunch atheist or careful agnostic who claim they do not have faith in God are merely employing
an alternative faith assumption, they are not exempt from faith.
This is because faith is an aspect of BEING. And BEING means something.
To LIVE is to have FAITH. All learning is incremental acts of faith. Faith is ultimately a byproduct of the TRUTH we are able to possess. Truth is not limited to the empirical world, it transcends and includes it. This is why everything is
spiritual in nature.
We don't live entirely in a scientific world. We believe in all kinds of things that are not empirically based. (ideas, logic, mathematics, love, dreams, aspirations) The Apostle Paul likened us to a jar of clay containing a great treasure inside. (2 Cor 4:7) A marriage of physical and spiritual.
If we grasp this powerful reality, then we are embarking on a truly
amazing journey of what it means to be human-
what it means to have BEING-
what it means to be ALIVE or to LIVE.
what it means to connect to all things in a new way.
Humanity and "BEING" are intricately linked.
It's amazing.
It's beautiful.
It's a marriage. As such, It requires our diligent effort. We must cultivate our
BEING.
It means we can follow our being upstream to its source. And this is where
it gets really cool.
But
How?
Next week I will offer some thoughts on how "TO BE".
