Category Archives: MSV Inspirations

MindSoulVision Inspirations

On Faith:

What is Faith? Some would say, “Faith is the proof of things unseen”, or “Faith is believing even when you want to give up”.  But where does faith come from? How is it developed? How do you know what to have Faith in? Because I am not one to just accept what I am told without asking questions I needed the answers to these questions in order to truly understand this concept that we take for granted and sadly don’t fully understand. I wanted an explanation that was based in objectivity and not personal opinion or rhetoric.

I set out to interview some folk from different backgrounds and different religious and non religious belief systems to get a clearer and more balanced cross section of results. I asked the question, “What is Faith” and got all the standard answers and realized that I had to rephrase the question in order to get more real answers. I wanted to get at the mechanics of faith more so than the opinions about it.

Here’s what I found out: Faith is the psychological mechanism that we develop when we have developed a strong relationship with a particular belief. My favorite example is sitting down without looking first. Often times we take something so simple for granted and not so much a lesson on the way our faith works. There is a process to developing faith that is followed unconsciously and depending on the person and situation this process takes place either very quickly or very slowly.

In our seating scenario, let’s say you are on a train and you see an available seat, clearly representing open opportunity. Your faith development process kicks in at that point.  Many different stimuli will guide your decision making process and help determine how much faith you will develop in this situation. “Am I tired enough to sit down”, “ should I let someone else have that seat”, “How long until my stop on this train before I would have to stand up and get off”, “If I sit down will I be inclined to get back up to give this seat to someone I deem as needing this seat more so than I(elderly, pregnant, female, sick & injured etc.)”? This is the value assessment stage of the process. “What value will this action have in and on my life?”

Next is personal cost evaluation. “Is there enough room for me to sit there”, “Do I want to sit next to the person on either side of me”, “Will I have to interact with that person and if so how much interaction will be required?” All Valid questions but in evaluating the answers you will find some interesting things about who you are and how you interact with people and the level of faith you will develop.

How you answer these questions will guide you to the decision of whether you will sit in the seat or not but are all self indulgent in nature and a part of every faith development process.

Then there are the two biggest questions of all. “Will that seat support me”, and “Will I be comfortable sitting there?” In the faster less thought out process, most people will without thinking just turn around and sit down without a second thought. Many will just sit down with no process at all including the process of looking or investigation. Ever sit on a train seat that has gum, water or some other questionable substance on it and end up with ruined clothing? That is the result of such a process. Poorly developed faith can be extremely dangerous.

Personal comfort plays a huge part in the faith development process. Most people choose to have faith in that which they feel personally comfortable believing in. There are some things that seem so outrageous that you could not possibly have faith in them (a three legged chair) while others you are conditioned to believe over time to accept as truth and thereby make faith easier to develop (faith in a higher being).

No matter what you have faith in and no matter what you believe in you should always make sure to question and fully understand before basing your faith in them.

What do you have faith in and why? Ask the existential question and get answers or face ruin!!!

What are your thoughts?

Rahim Baskett
Photographer
MindSoulVision Photography
URL: http://www.mindsoulvision.com/
Email: Rahimb@mindsoulvision.com