What is Faith?

Faith

What is faith?

Faith is a deep-seated belief in the existence of something unknown, some higher power, which supposedly will give us solace and hope in difficult times.

Most of the faiths people carry in their hearts revolve around religion.

A child is born and raised by parents, and most of the time, the child adopts the parent’s religion as his/her religion, which becomes his/her faith.

So, our faith is borrowed faith.

We put faith in something that we haven’t made any efforts for.

No efforts to explore, no efforts to realize this higher power, no efforts to find out what we will rely on for the rest of our lives.

That means our faith is just a piece of information stored at the mind level, just like any other information.

Just like we all have information like what country we live in, who we are, my parents, etc., we say, “I belong to the Christian faith.”

That is not faith.

It is just a belief, and all beliefs reside in mind.

Spirituality says –

Real faith is when you earn it.

There is nothing like Jain Faith, Christian Faith, Hindu, or Muslim faith.

Those are beliefs, part of the mind only.

If your parents didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know what your religious faith is.

Beliefs can change.

But-

Real Faith is beyond beliefs, and it cannot change.

Don’t confuse faith and belief.

It is the biggest trap set up by man.

Beliefs are not faiths.

Why?

Because beliefs can vary from person to person and can divide.

When I say, I am Hindu, you are not. Division happened right away.

That is the reason why we had so many conflicts and religious wars over centuries.

On the spiritual path, when one meditates and eventually rises higher to find the formless ( and that’s why homogenous ) state of consciousness ( the soul ), his faith in it happens.

When your faith settles in the shunya state, it is real faith that unites.

At the body level, we all are different.

At the mind level, we are even more different.

But at the soul level, we all are the same because the soul is a spirit.

My soul and your soul cannot be different.

So would you put faith in your mind or the soul?

This dirty trick of the man of creating various faiths and preaching blind faith to the mass is an unending whirlpool that has trapped millions over centuries. ( Look at the millions lining up outside temples and churches ).

These religious faiths ( beliefs ) have caused a segregated human society.

People have been living in spiritual blindness for centuries.

But, we can argue.

By definition, faith has to be blind.

Otherwise, it is not faith.

How do you resolve this dichotomy?

MEDITATION.

Meditation takes you beyond the mind into an unknowable ( aghyey ) state, where the mind is useless.

The mind stops existing, you ( your Ego, your self-identification) stop existing,  and yet you still exist in this state.

So, once you experience this state and, with repetitive exposure to it, start realizing its existence, faith develops in this enormous infinite existence, which is unknowable and yet, at the same time, is real ( experienceable ).

So, now your faith develops in something that is not knowable, but it does exist.

So, blind faith in meditation is not so blind after all, and that’s why its foundation is rock solid.

Only such faith brings peace in your life and harmony in the world by uniting the whole world, not dividing the world like religions have done.

But, for this, hard work is needed.

The spiritual path is challenging, but with perseverance, it starts bringing results and eventually takes you to a unified state of Advait, bringing peace in your life and the people around you.