When I think about faith, my mind very often goes to the concept of blind faith. I like this concept because I think it is very misunderstood, and seeing how people react to this particular concept says a lot about their spiritual journey.
It is probably important to start off by saying what I understand blind faith to be. The discerning believer seeks to understand. Although it is important to know that there is a commandment that says do not kill, it is important to understand why that is. Hopefully the answer goes deeper than "if you kill you will go to hell!". It is important to understand our connection to others, to see the impact that killing has on other beings and to sense the disruption in the natural order that such a violent act has. When such clarification is sought and gained, "thou shall not kill" becomes a natural expression of my heart and mind, and not just item on a list of rules.
In the same way, when we seek to understand the divine, we can bring our lives in tune with its natural expression. However, at least in the tradition that I was raised in, it would be foolish to think that my finite brain, with its limited capacity could full understand the mind of God. The finite can not full grasp the inifinte, although it can reflect it. Belief in a God that I can never fully understand includes an expression of blind faith.
Often when I see people people use the term blind faith, they are descrbing something else. Often they are either invoking or criticising a faith that does not try to know. Having been told something once, they believe and never question. This has always struck me as a very young and underdeveloped form of faith practice. Although there are limits to what can be known, I have seen people just give up under label of "blind faith". In the worst examples, it seems to be a mechanism of an unexamined spiritual identity. Some version of "It doesn't matter what you say, I believe what I believe at there is nothing more to it". There is a line here, between confidence in one's own views and putting those views into a box. Although, as humans, we like to define and categorize things, putting concepts of faith into such clearly defined parameters is impossible. How do we define and contain that which is unknown or unknowable?
Even in Zen, which focuses on the mind and its function in our living, there is much that can not be known in the traditional sense. Not knowing is at least as important as knowing. The Zen student cultivates the ability to "not know", and to be at home in that space. This type of not knowing is an embracing of the moment. It is the accepting that what will come cannot be known, so we wait and work with what arises. In this form, "blind faith" might be seen as faith in what we are blind to.
I have faith that cars will stay in their lane, but they don't always. I have faith that the sun will rise, but some day it won't. I have faith that there is a better way, even if I am not always able to live it. I have faith that I can embody God's will, even as I sin. I have faith in my Buddha nature, even if I don't make choices that are in harmony with the Way.
In all things, I find faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment