Faith isn't what it is often said to be.  Faith is the confidence and credit we give to people, things, and ideas because they have demonstrated their trustworthiness.  ***Faith is not blind*.** Faith is not believing without evidence. As the first of the [[0- The Five Spiritual Faculties|Five Strengths]], Faith is a powerhouse that moves the heart and soul down the path of [[the Great Work]]. While faith is often the beginning of the cycle, it isn't always. It is, however, always essential. Faith is not believing the unbelievable or the unseen, but the embrace of the paradox. It is realizing that our unknowing is not ignorance, it is that knowledge that we feel, sense, and understand at a deep level things we cannot know because they are beyond the words, images, and ideas we have access to. --- ## Faith is tested >[!quote] Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 > Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. True faith is born from experience. If an idea, person, or anything else appeals to you and there is no **valid** evidence for or against it, and the **consequences** of not having an opinion is the same as choosing a side, and you feel that this idea, person, or whatever could have a positive impact on your life, you test it to see if it really is true. We do this all the time with people we think could be a good friend, or a chair we have never sat in before.  We examine the chair to see if it looks sturdy, and if we don't find any obvious flaws, we invest a little faith in the chair and move on to [[2- Effort|effort]] and sit down.  With people, we gauge their trustworthiness at a glance, and if they look trustworthy, we move on to effort and talk to them.  We do this so often, we don't even realize we do it. When it comes to ideas, we too often reject this process.  Some ideas should fail the first test, and there are valid reasons to reject them, but we have to make sure our reasons are valid.   There are no arguments for or against the existence of God that will convince a person on the other side. The same is true for many of the other concepts we are going to discuss in this study.  As a result, their truth claims must be tested and examined closely, and if you find them as compelling as I do, try them.  They will have as positive an effect on your life as they have on mine. ### ...but not how you think It is important to something clear about tests of faith: they aren't tested by the events of our lives, at least not in the way that phrase is normally used. When tragedy strike our lives, relations, or anything we hold dear it is not for the purpose of testing our faith. If those things are tests of anything it is our resilience. Tragedy does cause us to chose one of two paths: 1. Double down on everything and run off to the land of conspiracy theories and denial 2. Question everything and make radical changes to our lives leaving nothing untouched. Or so it is often said. As with everything in life, when offered only two options, we should always look for the third we are being distracted from: 3. Deconstruct our harmful and destructive beliefs and behaviors, then fortify the aspects of our lives that foster joy, compassion, and strength. We should always be questioning every aspect of our lives. In fact that is what the cycle of the [[0- The Five Spiritual Faculties|Five Bases]] teaches us to do. Whether we are at the beginning with the smallest seed of faith, or we have gained new wisdom from the process and are at the point where we are testing our faith before continuing on to effort, we should always ask ourselves why we believe and do the things we believe and do., then adjust accordingly. Faith is tested constantly, and anything we find not to be good must be abandoned. --- ## What is Faith? While it is easy to argue there are many kinds of faith, they all share certain things in common. Let's dig in to what faith is at its core. ### The State of Being Ultimate Faith is a matter of much debate these days.  Some people claim they live without it but that is not true.  The idea of faith is bigger than limited boxes we usually try to shove it into.  Faith does not mean belief in God or some religion.  Those are types of faith, but not faith itself. >[!quote] Paul Tillich. Dynamics of Faith p. 1 > “Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man’s ultimate concern. Said another way (and without the sexist use of man for human): > Faith is the condition of focus on or interest in best achievable or imaginable state of a fundamental fact or principle: the forces or properties leading to growth, development, or change of faith are the forces or properties leading to growth, development, or change of humanity's best achievable or imaginable state of a fundamental fact or principle. As such we can have faith in love, or justice, or beauty, one another, and even God. The word, "ultimate," is important here, because it makes our concerns into a path forward and not a destination that can ever be reached. When something is ultimate, it is final and finished. Since life keeps going, nothing is finished or final. Some people who have faith in reason, money, personal ability, and meditation.  These are their ultimate concerns.  They don't think of these things as objects of faith, and it is not my place to correct them. When talking about religious faith, like I and many others have, my faith is in God.  Beyond that I really cannot say much.  God is the Penultimate Ultimate.  There is nothing and no one beyond.  When I talk about God, I enter the realm of Mythos, because any God who can be defined in words is no longer ultimate, and thus is an idol.  So why bother talking about God at all then? I experience God through the practice and exercise of my faith, and the Grace I find through out my day.  I have a relationship with God, and love God with my whole heart.  How could I love someone and not what to talk about them? God, like anyone we love, can only be discussed by analogy and abstracting, even if we cannot see it in the moment. A name is an abstract title attributed to a person or thing. Any quality named points to an experience or aspect of our relationship and not to the person themselves. Since I cannot read another's mind, I can never truly know them fully, but that doesn't mean that we cannot know anyone or love them. All of the names and qualities we use are signifiers pointing to something which is essentially unknowable. This is our experience of everything in life. Our relationship to God and spirit are no different. ### Faith as embracing and centered act >[!quote] Paul Tillich. Dynamics of Faith p. 7 > “Faith as the embracing and centered act of the personality is ‘ecstatic.’ It transcends both the drives of the nonrational unconsciousness and the structures of the rational consciousness. There is a lot to unpack there, so let's take it one step at a time. #### What is an embracing and centered act? > [!info] Embracing and Centered Act: > an action that willingly and enthusiastically accepts and supports a specific focus or subject. Warning flags should be going off and if they are not, they should be. This is where faith skirts the edge of confirmation bias and we have to be very conscious of this risk. Confirmation bias is when we accept something without question or scrutiny because it aligns with our existing beliefs. As we have already established, [[#Faith is tested|faith is always tested]]. We should and must neve accept anything purely on faith. We process everything through [[0- The Five Spiritual Faculties|The Five Spiritual Faculties]]: 1. We test the information for accuracy and validity to generate the seed of faith. 2. That faith fuels our [[2- Effort|effort]], which enacts and embodies the idea. 3. That effort fuels our [[3- Mindfulness|mindfulness]], which brings the energy of awareness, discerning the truth, and connecting the heart to that truth. 4. That mindfulness fuels our [[4- Concentration|concentration]], which experiences a breakthrough to penetrate into the nature of the idea or practice. 5. That concentration fuels our [[5- Wisdom|wisdom]], which offers insight and cuts through the obstacles in our path. 6. That wisdom fuels our faith and the process begins again. We may have to remind ourselves to use the five strengths as we build these five powers, but eventually they become second nature. It is this process that helps us to break out of confirmation bias and practice truly embracing and centered acts. #### How are these acts ecstatic? Tillich said, "It transcends both the drives of the nonrational unconsciousness and the structures of the rational consciousness (ibid)." What does that mean? The ecstasy we are talking about here is not an emotional experience though it can be accompanied by one. This ecstasy is an experience beyond the unseen desires and motivations that drive us and the logical methods we have a learned. We experience this kind of ecstasy when we are in a flow state, those times when time drops away and we experience no separation between what we are doing and that we are doing it. When we simply do. There are many versions of this kind of action, and they all feel in the moment and beyond our desire and conscious thought. In this way, faith is an action that willingly and enthusiastically accepts and supports a specific focus or subject beyond our internal desires and conscious action. We might call this kind of faith resonating, inspired, or in flow. It often feels like something beyond us or as a moment of pure connection. This is not a type of faith to sought out, but it is one that will generate within us from time to time. #### How does this ecstasy work? >[!quote] Paul Tillich. Dynamics of Faith p. 11-12 > “The term ‘ultimate concern’ unites the subjective and the objective side of the act of faith—the fides qua creditur (the faith through which one believes) and the fides quae creditur (the faith which is believed). The first is the classical term for the centered act of personality, the ultimate concern. The second is the classical term for that toward which this act is directed, the ultimate itself, expressed in symbols of the divine. ##### The faith through which one believes The faith through which one believes is knowledge, or a reservoir of trust or credit we have built up toward something. "I have faith." "That is a person of faith." "Faith manages." This is the received faith, the one we build over time and through the process we have been discussing. ##### The faith which is believed The faith which is believed is the faith we direct to God, the spirits, truth and the rest. When most people use the word, they are using it in this way: "I have faith everything will turn out okay." "I have faith that God..." "I have faith in you." This is the active faith, faith as something we do. ##### United in the Ultimate Concern If we use our definition from above: > [!info] Ultimate Concern > humanity's best achievable or imaginable state of a fundamental fact or principle. This Ultimate Concern unites our received faith and our active faith because it is a goal to strive for and not a destination we can reach. It is the subject we build over time and through the process we have been discussing, and something we do. --- ### Faith and [[Word of God|Dabhar]] >[!quote] Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as also they, but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith by those who heard. Faith is the knowing (gnosis) we build over time, and the acts we do. Dabhar is is active, creative, and alive. It is the Word and Wisdom of God enacted and spoken into the world. This is the heart of faith.  Faith acts in, through, with, and by compassion and Dabhar. >[!quote] Paul, Romans 10:17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith is the first of the five strengths that gives us power in our lives. ### Faith as having a path to freedom >[!quote] Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power, p 15 > “Faith is having a path that leads you to freedom, liberation, and the transformation of affliction. >[!quote] Romans 12:3 (New American Standard) > “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. ### Faith as Confidence in Practice >[!quote] Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, p 185 > “Faith is the confidence we receive when we put into practice a teaching that helps us overcome difficulties and obtain some transformation. >[!quote] Mark 11:22-23 (New American Standard) > “And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. >[!quote] Ephesians 2:8-10 (New American Standard) > “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.