The obvious topic that follows on from the trying to get a grip on the
truth is "faith". What is faith? It seems to me that many people view
faith as something that is required only by the religious and it is
connected to one deity or another.
Websters online dictionary does describe faith as having some connection with God - "belief and trust in and loyalty to God" but it also gives the following definition: "firm
belief in something for which there is no proof". Since I am moving
from the concept of "truth" to the concept of "faith" it is more
appropriate to take the second definition. After all, faith being
ascribed to a deity limits the scope of faith. Since "The Truth" is not
easy to pin down then it must be faith that we cling to. It is faith
that helps us hold on to "What I Believe to be the Truth"!
To explain this again a little more clearly. Faith
is believing in something where there is no proof. "The Truth", I have
just convinced myself in my previous post is illusive and it can be said
always needs "proof"! So it stands to reason then that all that we
claim as our "What I Believe to be the Truth" is in fact an exhibition of faith!
I accept that if everyone has the same "What I Believe to be the Truth"
then calling it "faith" starts to sound a little wacky. For instance
sitting on a park bench and trusting that it will hold your weight does
strictly speaking require faith, but you are going to be dragged off to a
mental asylum if you keep checking every bench to see that it is strong
enough to hold you. So in this instance your faith in park benches is
so strong that you feel that it would be better to look on it as "The
Truth"! But don't be fooled... it's still "What I Believe to be the
Truth"!
Issac Newton's laws of gravity were, it seemed at the time, rock solid
and everyone (most people anyway) put their faith in them and they
became "The Truth" (Just remember not to be conned - it's still "What I
Believe to be the Truth"!) Years and years of science exams have been
written expecting the students to know and understand Newton's laws. It
wasn't until Einstein and Eddington discovered that Newton's laws didn't
work for them any more when trying to understand planetary motion that
we discovered that Newton's laws just gave us an approximation. An
approximation cannot be called "The Truth"! I guess that story is just
to illustrate again that truth is illusive but we need faith to progress
once we understand our "What I Believe to be the Truth".
Before I end off this post I would like to return to the understanding
of faith in a deity or, if you like, faith in the absence of a deity.
Whatever we say is our "What I Believe to be the Truth" when it comes to
religion or the lack thereof, all that we can hold to is faith! We
can't escape it. No matter what you say is the truth it is only by using
faith that you can hold on to it as your truth.
Having grasped this, I can look at what people put their faith in and
know just like me they are trying to make sense of this world where "The
Truth" is so illusive. They don't and I don't have "The Truth" pinned
down.
The Bible defines faith for us... Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure
of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." There's that
word "hope" again!
