Your house shall not be an anchor but a mast - Khalil Gibran
Questions
How do you describe faith?
My photograph, last summer
I’ve been having some discussions about faith with an atheist colleague, and there have been some interesting blogging exchanges around the subject recently, here for example. As others have said, there is no proof, that’s what makes it faith.
I was pondering this question today when I flipped open One Minute Wisdom by Anthony de Mello at this page:
The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu’s dictum:
“Those who know do not say;
Those who say do not know.”When the Master entered, they asked him exactly what the words meant.
Said the Master, “Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?”
All of them knew.
Then he said “Put it into words.”
All of them were silent.
Wisdom indeed!
Discussion
10 comments for “How do you describe faith?”
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© 2008 Anchors and Masts. 
I like this, Tess.
The more I sought to define what I thought, the further it seemed to slip away from me! or so I felt.
We see the argument crystallised in miniture above; all the facets are there. What possible counter-argument is there?
However, as we saw, people find one, from somewhere!
These days I find myself in an odd place. It’s odd because none of my friends and acquaintances are there. So it feels quite lonely. The place I am referring to is not the place of faith; it is the place of once having had faith, and lost it…. Meanwhile, everyone I know still has faith. Well, I don’t know what else to say. Not sure if this comment has any great relevance to the post or not.
I do love the “one-minute” piece from Lao Tzu/De Mello though. Yes, these things are ultimately impossible to wrap language around. And those who are glib and thinks it’s an easy matter…well, they think they know, but they just don’t….
GW: language is inevitably fundamentally flawed in some ways, isn’t it?
HM: yes, this must be a difficult place to be in. But have you lost Faith with a capital F or faith - in life, in spiritual experience, in love? What I’m getting at is the difference between spirituality and religious dogma.
Peace Tess,
Another interesting post. Thank you for sharing it with us all. Thank you also for the link the Green Witch’s site - I intend to join in the conversation there myself.
Faith is a complex, fascinating, annoying, challenging, joyful thing. Perhaps that is because, ultimately, it is about relationship - with ourselves, others and God (however Hu is conceived)?
Abdur Rahman
Abdur, you’re absolutely right on the contradictory nature of those descriptions.
I love Anthony de Mello’s writings and have most of his books. I also have listened to him speak years ago in Denver at the Jesuit college, Regis, here. Everyone was spellbound.
I agree that it’s about relationship. I’m not even sure that I see my path as a ‘faith’ path, but because that is because I was raised in an evangelical/charismatic family and have walked away from that kind of ‘faith’. I do tend to see my spiritual journey as one of a deepening relationship with Goddess and God, through Nature, through a deepening awareness of myself and Them. There’s no faith, as such, just a growing sense of spiritual reality.
Kate, welcome to this space and thank you for commenting. I’m glad you had the opportunity to hear de Mello speak.
Andy, I know what you mean about the word ‘faith’ - it’s one of those loaded words isn’t it. Even though I was brought up in quite a liberal Catholic household, some of the extremism of the RC brand of Christianity got through and it’s taken a lot of years to work through that. Now, although I still consider myself to be Christian, I value so much the richness of other faith/spiritual paths, and I think God, whoever and however we regard her/him is never seen more clearly than in this wonderful world we’re so busy destroying.
I have no faith in any human-made (and they all are) philosophical or religious system. I only have faith in love, I guess. Nothing else.
HM: that’s enough, surely.