Some time back, I asked what gives you hope. Now I ask: what gives you faith? My questions are all-inclusive. "Faith" to me, includes the secular: I have faith that when I hit the switch, a light comes on.
In other words, I welcome the atheist and the Christian, the pagan and...I dislike labels. I welcome everybody...
What gives you the faith to keep on keeping on? What makes you seek? What drives you to find what you seek?
What gives you faith?
I'm interested in things I cannot hold in my hand. Always have been. Hope, faith, mind. I am not interested in getting anyone to believe what I believe.
My interest is to be helpful. To share. I go inside the closet of mind, close the door, then tap on these little plastic keys. I have faith that when I type, little black marks that we call "words" will be up on the screen.
What gives you faith? When faced with ugliness, what would give you faith in beauty, sufficient to heal? To heal your sight. Not just feel better, but heal. When faced with injustice, what would give you faith in justice? Are you then inspired to work for peace?
Is there a light in someone's eye, and you know you put it there? Does there seem to be something in you that smiles through despair? I once fell into a despair so great that I began to weep, to sob uncontrollably. Wracked I was with shaking, until I began to realize I was having a wonderful time. Then I started to laugh.
Herein lies a peculiar sense of peace. A new awareness of one's surroundings. A sense closer to the conscious mind than before, as if dredged up by that sense. But the difference is that we begin to sense that we are one with our surroundings. What would give you faith in this? The sight of a daffodil pushing its bright little head through the soil? The sound of a guitar strum as you walk in a park? A spontaneous glance to see a hawk riding the high thermals? Maybe our divisions are artificial.
When I allow my mind its freedom (and I usually do this by recognizing I really know nothing), my fingers might happen upon a certain book as if by their own accord; I might meet a stranger with a profound message, seemingly just for me, yet universal: "Whatever you do, do it with diligence."
Maybe that faith was always with you. With us. Maybe I should ask what causes you to recognize faith. Maybe we bury it under layers of analysis, relying too much on the intellect. But like that persistent daffodil, faith will push through our stubborn mental soil, its own perseverance slowly winning out over our brave certainty that we know better. I learned long ago not to analyze too much.
What would help you find peace? Is there a part of you that keeps moving forward no matter the shootings, the crashing world economies, the seemingly endless wars...no matter the appearance? Do you hear an inner song? Will you pick yourself up, dust yourself off...stand with me to face a new sunrise? Can you see this is not warm and fuzzy crap, but a signal to unite and step into a new history? The old ways are falling apart. A transformation is beginning. Probably began long ago in our terms of time. Here is my faith in you. Here is your faith in me. Ours is to shed light. In the shedding, we do not ignore appearances, but move through them, lending aid along the way, eyes on the prize:
May peace one day overlay the earth, and heal the world.
Politics is people. Herein lies my faith.