 24 Apr 2010 @ 20:55
FAITH
In spite of knowing,
Yet still believing.
Though no god above,
Yet god within.
There is no god in the sense of a cosmic father or mother who will
provide all things to their children. Nor is there some heavenly
bureaucracy to petition. These models are not descriptions of a divine
order, but are projections from archetypal templates. If we believe in
the divine as cosmic family, we relegate ourselves to perpetual
adolescence. If we regard the divine as supreme government; we are
forever victims of unfathomable officialdom.
Yet it does not work for us to totally abandon faith. It does not
follow that we can forego all belief in higher beings. We need faith,
not because there are beings who will punish us or reward us, but
because gods are wonderful ways of describing things that happen to us.
They embody the highest aspects of human aspiration. Gods on the altars
are essential metaphors for the human spiritual experience.
Faith shouldn't be shaken because bad things happen to us or because
our loved ones are killed. Good and bad fortune are not in the hands of
gods, so it is useless to blame them. Neither does faith need to be
confirmed by some objective occurrence. Faith is self-affirming. If we
maintain faith, then we have its reward. If we become better people,
then our faith has results. It is we who create faith, and it is through
our efforts that faith is validated.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao
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