Thoughts on Faith

I was thinking about Faith as a powerful tool and basically irrational belief which is not supposed to be based on facts but on theories or assertions. would like all of your philosophical thoughts on Faith. thanks

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_culpa

I like the Christian concepts of Felix culpa, redemption, etc but generalized in a secular /agnostic format because we all have need for forgiveness and I believe the idea that you can lose something and later transcend that loss is true

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equanimity

equanimity is another concept I value. it is a Buddhist and Stoic philosophy (or at least that is where I learned it. Basically the idea is to be neutral toward your sensory experience and not favor a certain kind of experience over another. Having this ability in tough or difficult circumstances lets you gain perspective and stand back and approach situations more objectively from outside yourself


edit: sorry, to be clearing am an atheist. to me faith is still important and necessary in the world because our future as human beings is always in flux and turbulent and we as imperfect biological creatures need to believe in something greater outside ourselves to become better people who can act with higher purpose. for me, that higher purpose is simply a faith and hope that we can overcome death in some form or fashion and maintain a loving mind & heart

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by bkveda

I was thinking about Faith as a powerful tool and basically irrational belief which is not supposed to be based on facts but on theories or assertions. would like all of your philosophical thoughts on Faith. thanks

faith was meant as a tool to help step into the unknown.... or alternatively to help combat the negativity others give when they look at their theories and then conclude that according to the knowledge they have, something you want is impossible.

of course we can't entirely step into the unknown without painting a picture of it first, which is why faith seems to be about irrational beliefs

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

faith was meant as a tool to help step into the unknown.... or alternatively to help combat the negativity others give when they look at their theories and then conclude that according to the knowledge they have, something you want is impossible.

of course we can't entirely step into the unknown without painting a picture of it first, which is why faith seems to be about irrational beliefs

It helps combat not only negativity outside but also within. When we find boundaries we have set unknowingly and feel uncomfortable with unknown beyond. It helps in overcoming fears and makes us feel secure.

Is it just psychological or is there more to it?

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by bkveda

It helps combat not only negativity outside but also within. When we find boundaries we have set unknowingly and feel uncomfortable with unknown beyond. It helps in overcoming fears and makes us feel secure.

Is it just psychological or is there more to it?

well aside from its utility in backing up a step into the unknown... I assume the raw emotion has an energy content. maybe it is something like a cosmic broom to sweep out the dust lol!

[pdizzle45]

Faith is not irrational. Faith is a beautiful thing. Take some time and look around. Notice all the great things faith does for us and the world.

Originally Posted by pdizzle45

Faith is not irrational. Faith is a beautiful thing. Take some time and look around. Notice all the great things faith does for us and the world.

Yes Faith is beautiful and does wonderful things. Yet i feel it irrational in the sense that it does not follow reason, it exists because it does. It is not something that can be reasoned, it can only be a belief without proper reason. can you show me how you think faith is rational?

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

well aside from its utility in backing up a step into the unknown... I assume the raw emotion has an energy content. maybe it is something like a cosmic broom to sweep out the dust lol!

That power in raw emotion seems to be out of control, and creates fear of destroying what we are comfortable with. Unless we learn to control our raw emotions, we wont be comfortable using this power. Faith helps us find this way to access and control raw emotions. Our fears protect us from using the powers which are out of our control.

[pdizzle45]

bkveda,

I don't think everything can follow reason. Are you saying faith is irrational because it does not follow reason and anything that cannot be reasoned is irrational? Hmmmm could you imagine the strength of currency if there were no faith in it? Thankfully we put faith into it and it maintains its purchasing power. And that is a very practical example of why faith is rational. If I got paid Friday, it would be irrational for me to not believe that this money was no good(Especially because I put in work hours for it). Or, getting re-married after a first failed marriage. It is somebody(or two people) putting faith over their experience.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by bkveda

That power in raw emotion seems to be out of control, and creates fear of destroying what we are comfortable with. Unless we learn to control our raw emotions, we wont be comfortable using this power. Faith helps us find this way to access and control raw emotions. Our fears protect us from using the powers which are out of our control.