Faith | Angry Anderson

The dictionary defines ‘faith’ thus: complete trust or confidence, firm belief without logical proof, duty or commitment to fulfill a trust or promise.

Faithful: showing faith, loyal, trustworthy, accurate, true to fact i.e. faithful account.

Belief in a ‘higher being’ or some entity that has no physical substance will require faith.
Belief in a part of ourselves that we cannot taste, smell or touch will require faith because it is something we ‘feel’ rather than something proven by visual confirmation; we believe it is there; we believe we have it, so it is, we do have it.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that we all need something that is not material to believe in. I have no doubt that without a belief in that ‘something’, whatever we perceive it to be, we will wander aimlessly, not totally but partially through life never knowing the true wonderment that life can be and therefore in reality, is.

In keeping with the basic principals of Yin and Yang there are always two opposites working at all times to keep things in balance. Life as a physical experience and life as a non physical experience, life in the material world and life in the non material world. Life in the material world is just that; all things material. The opposite is life in the spiritual world where all things spiritual happen. When this occurs there can be balance but first we must be aware of both realms so that we ‘work’ towards creating that balance. When that balance does not, or is prevented from happening, trouble begins and if that imbalance is not attended to, then chaos will eventually result.

Historically we have seen where and how misguided faith in something as powerful as religion can be. We have seen wars fought to defend or extend a particular faith or belief that some people claim is the one true faith, the word of God, the only way to righteousness and salvation. Our history is awash with terrible examples of how a misguided few can influence the many through fear and persecution and the use of imprisonment, torture and execution to bring the ‘unbeliever’ to enlightenment.

The crusades into the ‘Holy Land’ are a prime example and the ‘Holy Inquisition’ is a dark period of Christian history that most people would rather forget and wish had never happened. I got into a little trouble with some readers after the last article because I ‘singled out’ the inadequate response and dealings that some Christian churches have displayed so far in their handling of the perversion of paedophilia and paedophiles within their ranks.
I was only using that particular example because it is current and it is a glaring example of a wrong within the Christian church that must be put right if the Church is to retain any credibility. Credibility is required in order to attract any young new followers and believers, without whom the Christian church is doomed to diminish in its power and will eventually succumb to the threats from without. The world needs a strong Christian religion practiced, a religion with no contradictions hanging around its neck weighing it down and preventing it from doing what it should be doing. One of the reasons young people are not embracing this wonderful experience is that they can smell hypocrisy and deceit through a concrete wall from a distance.

Most people at some stage in their personal development come across the idea that life is about more than the material world in which we all live and it is at that time that they start looking around for something or someone to provide answers to the growing number of questions forming in their consciousness. These ideas that they instinctively know, spring from their inner being, from that tiny voice that cannot and will never lie…the voice of their God.

There are still dangerous ‘fundamentalists’ within the Christian church who would drag us all back into the dark ages, just as there are within the religion of Islam and most of us know only too well that for any of us, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu, in fact any spiritual path you may choose to follow, what we do not need is crazy people telling us how we can find grace in the eyes of God. The beautiful messages written in the spiritual works that have come into being over the years are there to guide us and teach us. They are there, I believe, to provoke us to thought, meditation and contemplation that will lead us to a fuller and deeper personal experience of the ‘Divine’.

I believe with my whole being that a man without God is only half a man, a woman without God is only half a woman, a life without God can only be half a life.

My personal Spiritual experience teaches me that I cannot deny any other man, woman or child their own experience. That would be an affront to all that their experience has to offer.
I choose to ‘follow’, if you like, an experience based largely on the Christian experience but I cannot deny any other person their own experience.

I choose to allow the thoughts, beliefs and teachings of someone that is referred to as ‘The Prince of Peace’ to influence my thoughts and musings as I work each day to find, follow and honour my own spiritual life.

I choose to reject the teachings of old that tell us that we should fear our God, I would rather find a ‘God’ that I can love and be part of; a ‘oneness’; a true connectedness that embraces love, that nurtures all that is good in man, not all that is vile and destructive.

I say again, a life without some vision of God is only half a life.
May you find yours, as I have found mine.
Go in peace and fellowship.
Go with your God.

Until we meet again, I remain your friend, Angry.