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.
The point of faith is to become better people. Not to force your religion on others, but to better yourself. Not to strengthen your religion or return it to its traditions so you can glory in the past, but to allow yourself to face the world as it is now, and deal with life as it is now. Tao doesn’t encourage us to live in the past or long for some past glory days of Taoist rule, or go around converting everyone to Taoism, or to force our governments to meet some holy standards of justice. Tao tells us to live our own lives in harmony with natural forces. The “faith” of Tao is to know that if you follow its principles and move in harmony with the Tao, your life will naturally become better.
And it does. That’s the beauty of it. It works. Just as Christianity does if you truly follow its teachings, and don’t reinvent your own interpretations of it to suit your misogynistic tendencies. Just as Buddhism does, if you follow its logic. Just as Islam does, if you follow its true tenants and don’t use them as ways to control the women in your society, or enforce the power of the Mullahs over the people to their detriment. Just as any faith does, once you get past the “rules” you’re “supposed” to follow and understand the heart of what it is trying to tell you – to treat other people well, to better yourself before complaining about others, and to live your own life in accordance with what you believe, and not impose that on other people around you.
For the unified mind in accord with the tao all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind’s power. Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value. In this world of suchness there is neither seer nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt arises, ‘Not two.’ In this ‘not two’ nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth. And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes. Infinitely large and infinitely small, no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen. So too with Being and non-Being. Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.
Words! The tao is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.
5 Responses
“Faith” is no substitute for truth, for living based upon observed reality. “Faith” as the loaded word relates to religion, is a professed belief in mysticism, human-invented fantasies, in short, lies.
Does having “faith” provide comfort to some? I suppose so, but maybe believing in elves, fairies, and other fancies does too.
I’ll never understand denigrating the truth and beauty of natural order as a source of comfort in favor of voodoo, not to put it too bluntly.
I consider faith as in its more original definition of fidelity – being true to one’s self, to the path leading to deeper discovery of the self.
I also have faith in other people to the extent that I trust them, and faith in the Tao since it is indeed the truth and beauty of the natural order.
Religion can only really be understood as metaphors for personal growth – if you follow the path laid out by those the religion is based upon, then you come to find their truths. Even “fairy tales” have some very deep psychic meanings, which are valuable teaching lessons. Eventually all must walk their own paths, of course, and find their own truths. Sadly many (most) people never grow beyond the simplistic faith they develop as children.
When others faith is co-opted by religious leaders for the sake of their own power, that’s where the trouble begins….
Oh, and if you look at how voodoo was actually practiced, it is a very different practice than you might imagine Voodoo was intended to help people work out their own personal demons, not to attack other people. It is a fascinating practice.
I was only using voodoo as an example, although my studies tend to indicate that voodoo is the same sort of happy horseshit as all other religions. I refer you in particular to “Divine Horsemen” by Maya Deren.
If by “faith” one means keeping faith with a valid set of humanistic secular life principles, and living consistently with them, I am all in favor of it. Unfortunately, most people use the word to mean they’ve got a corner on some metaphysical crap and woe betide you if you disagree.
Yeah, I know. My favorite trick is to know more about it than they know themselves. ;^) Usually pisses people off and they leave you alone. ;^)
Oooh, I lke the phrase “happy horseshit.” Gotta use that!
Thanks,
N