Each religious group claims to have the true Faith, and they spend their time and energy to prove their faith to be true and the faith of others to be false. The members of each church give so much value to holding on to the true faith, that they are expected to sacrifice their lives for it. They point out the example of the ancient fathers who died as martyrs to uphold their faith.
As long as we are within a community as its part, we blindly believe whatever our community asks you to believe. But if we happen to step outside our community, we take an objective perspective, and we ask the basic question of what exactly is faith, and why it differs from one community to another. Most of those who stay within a community have never had a chance to take such a stance, and those who do are looked upon with suspicion. They are blamed to have left the true faith! Here, taking the risk of being called a heretic, I am stepping outside my faith community and looking at faith with an objective perspective. What exactly is faith?
Is faith the same as belief? Often faith is seen as a synonym of belief, and the people within a community are called believers. So let us first see what belief is. It is an assertion without any evidences. A fact, however, is an assertion supported by evidences. A belief exists supported by the people who hold the belief, but a fact exists even if no one holds it. Why does a belief exist? Because the truth of it remains unknown. So, can we claim a belief to be true? Not at all. A belief can neither be proved true nor false. It has no evidences either way. Once a belief is proved true with the support of evidences, it get promoted to a fact. So if someone claims that his belief is true, how would we respond? It simply means that he believes his belief to be true.
If a certain belief is believed widely by an entire community, it gets elevated to the status of a fact for the members of that community. For example, the catholic church members all over the world believe that as soon as people die they go to a place called purgatory to get purified. For them it is a fact, but for the outsiders, it is a mere belief without any evidences. Such a belief about afterlife exists because no facts are available about afterlife. We are ignorant about what happens to us after death.
Living in this world as a part of it, we cannot have an objective knowledge of the world. We can never go outside the world and observe it objectively. Also we are limited by the limited number of senses with their limited powers. We can expand the power of our eyes using a microscope or a telescope, and it opens before us a whole new world. Thus we can be certain that the world we know is only a part of the real world. We have facts about the known part of the world, but we have only beliefs about the unknown part of the world. We know our past, but the future remains unknown. So we have facts about our past, but only beliefs about our future.
The world exists within time-space limits, and it keeps changing according to time and space. We imagine that the world exists so depending on something that exists beyond these limits because we can understand something that changes only in relation to something that does not change. Anything that moves has to be related to something that does not move. The world and everything in it change according to time and space. So we assume that the world depends on a Changeless Reality that exists beyond these limits of time and space. Although we assume its presence we honestly admit that we know nothing about this reality. As we exist within time-space, we can neither understand nor imagine anything beyond these limits. About this changeless reality also, we have only beliefs. Although we have given names such as God to this changeless reality, we honestly admit that we have no facts about this reality, which is why we don’t treat Theology as a branch of science.
Although we know nothing about this changeless reality, we make certain positive assumptions about it. We make these assumptions about the changeless reality relating it to the changing world. The following are such assumptions:
1. It knows everything about everything. But we, existing within time, gain more knowledge as time goes.
2. It does everything right, for it knows everything. But we, with our limitations, are prone to errors.
3. It has all abilities. But we have only limited number of abilities.
4. It has no beginning, and no end. But we begin and end.
About how the world is related to this changeless reality, we have certain assumptions.
1. The changeless reality, existing beyond space-time limits, cannot be limited by anything. So the changing reality exists within the changeless reality as its part.
2. Although the changeless reality appears different from the world to us, looking from the perspective of the changeless reality, the world is one with the changeless reality, and not a separate entity.
These assumptions about the changeless reality are not blind beliefs; they are assumptions derived from the observed facts.
These assumptions help us to live our life overcoming the limitations imposed on us by the world. Without the presence of the changeless reality, we are driven by fear--we are afraid of the unknown, of death, of committing errors. But by acknowledging the presence of the changeless reality, and by trusting on it, we are no longer driven by fear, but by confidence. Although our knowledge is limited, we are within the changeless reality, that knows everything. Although we commit errors, we are within the changeless reality that does no errors. Although we are beings with death, we are within the reality that is deathless.
This trust in the changeless reality that helps us to live a life of confidence is the TRUE FAITH. This is not a mere belief that varies from one community to another. Out of this grows a meaningful life of confidence and love.
This true faith is asserted in the traditional worship of the religions when they repeatedly affirm that God is omniscient, holy, almighty and immortal. The changeless reality is referred to as God, Alla, Yahweh, Brahma and other similar names. Being omniscient, God knows everything about everything, which makes God Holy, that is free from committing any errors. Also God is almighty, that is having all the possible abilities. God, being beyond space-time limit, is also immortal.
Whereas the true faith unites people, their religious and other beliefs divide them. Faith evolves out of in-depth understanding, but beliefs are superficial. It does not need any effort to hold a belief, but it takes committed search to discover faith and a meaningful and successful life based on it.
Conclusion
The words faith and belief have often been used as synonyms, which is why Faith has been mistaken to be a mere belief. A belief exists about anything unknown to us, and it is foolish to live or die for our beliefs. By the term TRUE FAITH we mean our trust in the changeless reality on which our changing world exists, and by which we are able to live a life of confidence. We don't live for our faith, but once we discover it, it serves as a strong foundation on which we can build up our life. This reminds us the parable of the two houses-- one built on sand and the other built on rock. Most of the people build their lives on the sand of superficial beliefs, and their lives collapse when they face storms. The wise ones dig down to discover the rock of faith, and build their lives on it.
