Pathwalking 182
Faith is not necessarily a dirty word.
This is something I have to remind myself of for a number of reasons.
Faith has nothing to do with religion. Just like morality, spirituality and religion are all separate tenets, faith can be interlinked with or independent of any of these three ideals.
When I know that something is possible, or that something is coming to pass, even when I cannot see or comprehend the how of it, that is where my faith needs to come into play.
I think all too often I allow my skepticism to overrule my faith.
Ruiz’s Fifth Agreement is to Be Skeptical, but learn to listen. Yes, this is an important notion and we should not just take matters on faith alone. But neither should we allow our faith to be shaken simply because we cannot see how this is going to be.
The problem with the notion of faith comes from zealots and fanatics. We hear and read so much nowadays about “faith-based initiatives” and intolerance and bigotry and other negatives in the name of one faith or another. Faith is thrown about as an excuse to deny science and reason. Simply put, this is not true faith.
The true meaning of the notion of faith is about trust. Trusting the universe, trusting your guts and your instincts and your heart and soul and mind is the root of real faith.
The false notions of faith get a lot of attention. We are inundated with stories about blind faith overwhelming logic and reason and people denying realities. Terror acts and ignoring science and avoiding medicine in the name of faith is not at all what faith is about. These examples are corruption of faith, and make it a bad word.
The message we constantly see is that a life without faith isn’t much of a life at all. This is actually to a certain degree true, but not in the sense that faith must involve god or other deities and ideas completely lacking in proof. Faith is not something that should utterly overwhelm sense, but having faith allows us to explore beyond what we already know.
Pathwalking is about controlling my own life, my own destiny. I have made and am making choices about the life I want to lead and the things I want to do with my life. Some of these things have seemed rather far-fetched and the outcome uncertain. Pathwalking, as such, requires faith.
This faith is based on the singular truth I am constantly returning to – consciousness creates reality. This is not always apparent, this is seldom an immediate act. Because consciousness is not merely thoughts but the combination of thought and feeling and action – aligning all three is sometimes a time-consuming process. The conscious creation of reality can be instantaneous, certainly – but sometimes it requires more time and thus faith.
When I was recovering from my severe injuries all those years ago I had no doubt about the totality of my recovery. I knew I could get back to one-hundred percent. Yes, medical science is incredible and I in no way deny the achievements of my many doctors in putting me back together. Yet even they were impressed by both the speed and completeness of my healing since they had predicted permanent complications I overcame. I had absolute faith that I would have nothing less than total recovery.
I’ve written about the situation last year where I needed a car. I didn’t know how I could make this happen, I saw no process to a solution, but I went through the motions and had faith that I could make it happen. I had faith that my consciousness could create my reality…and it did.
True faith does not exist in a vacuum. True faith does not utterly defy logic and reason because true faith is about confidence. This confidence is not from an unseen god or from vast powers beyond our imagination…it is within us. Faith begins with me.
I do not always have faith in myself. I do not always trust that I am choosing well, and as such I can become disillusioned and destressed because the path I am walking becomes unclear. Putting together the thoughts and feelings and actions necessary to consciously create reality requires faith that I know what is best for me, and that I believe in what I am seeking along this path I am choosing.
We need to reclaim faith for and in ourselves. The corrupted notion of faith has become a powerful tool for some less-than-scrupulous people and we need to show them that true faith is a far greater and more worthwhile power. This is because true faith has nothing to do with power but everything to do with empowerment.
When we feel empowered, we become capable of amazing things. Empowerment is the key to self-love, to making sound choices, ultimately to finding and having happiness.
I do not wish to walk the paths others lay out for me. I choose my own way, my own path, and I have faith that these choices allow me to create the reality I most desire. I need to have faith in myself to make this fly. Faith is not a bad thing, true faith is the road to empowerment. Empowerment leads to consciousness, from which we can create better realities.
Do you have faith in yourself?
This is the one-hundred eighty second entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share. Thank you for joining me.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.
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