Both faith and fear demand you to believe in something you can’t see
Fear: I believe that something bad will happen
Faith: I believe that somehow things will work out
When reading this quote, the first thing that came to mind was a scene from a movie, I forget which one, where two people were arguing about faith in God. One was saying “even if you don’t have proof, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist” and the other one “I cannot believe in something I don’t see”.
This debate is far from being unknown, it’s the basis on which believers and non believers, create their cases.
I’m not a religious person, far from that, I hate the concept and what it brings out in people. But that is another issue. Nevertheless, it’s always puzzled me how people manage to lean on it and use it. I’ve always found this both disturbing and interesting.
The idea that I’m getting to is the concept of “faith” in itself, no matter in what that is. I do agree with the fact that even we don’t see proof, we should believe in something, no matter what “that” is.
I’m tempted to get into the religious part of it all, because that’s what faith is linked to more often than not. And maybe in a way I will, but not by approaching the “religion” as it is commonly known, but one’s religion, the rules that are followed by an individual according to their inner values scale.
When believing in something, it’s easier to live, so survive even, it provides a solid ground even when it’s not seen, so advancing comes naturally. Believing is almost doing, it’s 50% of the job done, it’s means very little questioning and it means acting with very little doubt. The doubt is there to help anticipate a bad outcome but it’s not the one that prevails. Otherwise there is hesitating and hesitating often turns into a blockage and even worse, into choosing a different path, when the initial one was the good one
Believing is having faith in a good outcome rather than a bad one.
And that brings me to the concept of fear.
Fear’s basic role, is to protect. The problem is that, what initially, when human beings where still inhabiting caves and had to deal with real threats, was used as protection, is now a feeling that appears too easily as the threats are not as obvious as they were in the past. It’s not the big animal or the other tribe’s attacks, it’s a multitude of small ideas and facts that are not even really checked. Information has become a monster wrapped up in a shiny “come discover me” costume. Sometimes it hits you, sometimes it helps you. But you never know, it’s unpredictable, therefor, scary.
So I arrive to the core of the subject: believing either in one or the other. How do we manage to find a balance? Do we want to? Is believing in one more than the other, an inner choice (religion), never questioned, by default, or does it come out after analyzing each scenario? Which one is easier for the human brain and which one is safer?
As I see it, patterns matter a lot. The past is the teacher, and it could be a good one or a bad one. A good teacher shows you the facts in an unbiased way, and helps you see them as they are, a bad one may put in bias and leave you in the dark when it comes to analyze them impartially.
This is where faith in something one cannot see, is stronger than fear. The thing that we cannot see (no matter how we call it), can help in overcoming the patterns, as in, no matter how many bad outcomes there are, faith helps in advancing, leaving fear in a second plan. But it can also blindfold us, too much faith can put us in danger. And religion, especially if taken to the extreme, is the one doing that most of the time. Religion (without going in to deep into the concept), brainwashes the best, because it offers a steady hand but at the same time it blocks inner development and inner growth so therefor, free will.
For me, faith must be based on a set of principles and ideas that have proven, in time, to be trustworthy, even if they are not always applicable. They prevail and help us through life, while making decisions accordingly.
Fear on the other hand, even if it protects us, can paralyze us also, when taken to the extreme.
The good thing about fear, as I see it, is the fact that it makes us analyze things, it makes us really think and anticipate, it creates a high vigilance that can wire the brain in a certain way. It’s both helpful and detrimental. Being able to anticipate means being able to organize very fast and also being able to react as fast. It’s a powerful tool, like an engine functioning at high speed all the time. The detrimental part? It weakens the brain and the body, there is no pause, it leaves us depleted and in need of a fuel that can ONLY come from repeated good outcomes
So there you have it: an extreme in faith and you go too fast without to analyzing the possible wrong outcomes, an extreme in fear, and you don’t move at all, seeing ONLY wrong outcomes.
As I was saying, patterns matter a lot, but they are most used by the fear. Faith leaves it all in the hands of someone (somethings) who knows better. So to answer my own questions: fear is not really a choice, faith is, unquestionable faith.
So that brings me back to balance: depending on how we are wired, we should be able to manage the two in the best way possible, it’s not a 50/50 issue, I don’t even know if that is possible, as we are not machines. It’s whatever makes us take the decisions that align the most with what we are in our different stages of life. So the balance shifts permanently, but this shift has to be done in real time, adjusting to the ongoing events.
For this, there is need of a fairly amount of doubt, so that already takes a certain percentage of the “faith” part. This doubt should help us, at the end of the day, to change the ratio of faith/fear and learn something from all of it.
We always say “it’s human nature to”….When I think of the human nature I realize that it is the most untrustworthy element in this Universe. The human brain manages to create connections that can surprise all other living things, it is able to make and break a human being. The brain is the only part of the body who’s functioning is still not entirely understood, and I don’t think it ever will be, as it changes with time. It’s not about which part of the brain does what, it’s about the timing in which the different parts of the brain activate and communicate between them. And the outside context that triggers them.
Faith and fear lean on the visible and the invisible. And the invisible is that part of the brain that is not figured out. It’s the associations of ideas and conclusions taken from both parts and then interpreted and stocked.
I think we went through several “ends of the world”: the end of one and the beginning of another one. There won’t be (at least not for a long time), a total destruction of the planet, or a flood, or whatever. What we are living now is a new “end of the world”, and the one we are living behind is the last which had enough sanity to ensure a good balance between wrong and right, fear and faith. The one we are getting into though….it’s the worst there ever was, and I stand by it. The human brain has never been put through such struggles since the beginning of time, it has never been so solicited and so perverted. The outside forces are no longer clear, they wear masks and deceitful, they pervert the brain. And its functioning slowly turns into a pervert one also.
The elements that should help us ensure a healthy ratio of faith and fear, are no longer reliable. So that doesn’t give me much hope…