TOW: Faith

Faith. 

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of faith as a concept.  It's not something that people talk about much these days.  You don't often hear the term 'have faith in me' or ' I will always be faithful.'  Faith in people, ideas, or concepts is lost on this generation, and perhaps on this particular era's agnostic milieu.  Faith is a dying concept for people of my generation.  And it continues to bear less importance in daily Western culture as reason, and science, continue to showcase interesting things to consumers of culture.  But what does faith mean in a moral sense?

 To me, faith is an important aspect of moral life.  No good can be done without faith.  Good actions can only happen when we do more than assume, when we see something so clearly in our hearts that we wish to make real, that we bring forth an idea, a feeling, a desire into action.  Faith can show the strength of our resolve.  Love is weak-will when one does not have faith.  Hope is meaningless if there is no strength of action that can see hope through a dark storm.  In many ways, faith is an intention as much as a belief:  a belief, or perhaps even a desire for the good to be done in the world as it should be.  And to believe in things that cannot be seen, except by our hearts and minds.

 In a religious sense, faith, hope, and love form the start of all Christian beliefs.  Nothing can be done without these three standing together. 

And one of the problems of modernity is being too hung up in deliverables, practicals, and small details.  Faith was something that built cathedrals of old, inspired art that went on for hundreds, or thousands of years.  Faith moved mountains.  And those who had faith were much richer for it.

Today, I think about the value and role of faith in my own life.  It is interesting to see how faith has become less important as I become older, and the need to 'validate' becoming ever more important.  I hpe one day I can return to those eyes I had, that gave me all I needed to succeed, by believing what I was doing was going to create good in my life, and in the lives of those around me.  Because faith, like St. Augustine says, 'is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.'

I want, one day, to be able to say I did that.

 

What's the Meaning of Life?

A lot of people, famous, interesting people, have tried to answer this question.But to me, this question doesn't have value.  In fact, it rather seems silly that we think philosophers of any kind sit on rocks, contemplating existence, and saying the benign phrase, "What is the meaning of life?"


What is the meaning of life is like saying, "What is the meaning of chairs?  What is the meaning of spiders?  What is the meaning of ukelele bandits?"  In each case, clarification is required.  The question itself doesn't mean anything without clarification.   

A better question might be, "What is the meaning of my life?  What gives my life meaning?"

Because, as you know, we do not exist as 'everything' that's alive, but we do exist as ourselves. And we can talk about what it means to be alive, as us. 

So a good question, and one that I have been thinking about for a very long time, is, "What gives my life meaning?"

And I have thought about many people: friends, family, allies, enemies, peers, strangers--many people, who, day-to-day, make my life interesting and meaningful.  I think of the tasks, the chores, the objects (often that remind me of people or feelings) that give my life meaning.  The things I enjoy, the things I don't enjoy, etc. 

And these are all things that give my life meaning.  But this isn't the most important thing to me.

The most important thing in my life comes with another question: "What my purpose in life?".  What can I do in the world that will give my life sustainable, ultimate meaning outside of those things that I label pleasurable, unpleasurable, good/bad?  Who am I, what do I stand for, and what does that mean in terms of where my life is leading me?

I have thoughts about this, almost daily, and sometimes I wonder about this desire or that desire, but more than anything, I ask myself, "Where can I do good in the world, right now?  Where can I find goodness so that I feel I have a purpose in my life?"

Sometimes my purposefullness is simply about being a good friend, listening to someone in need, or doing my job well.  Sometimes it's about prayer, about writing, sometimes it's about being my own master of my own domain, life, etc.  Sometimes it's about questioning myself and the world around me.  Most days I feel like I'm a lot of people in one body.  I love to do a lot of different things, and those different things lead me in many different directions.

Maybe we will never be able to completely nail down the meaning in our own lives, especially in this internet age, of information that goes so fast that it cannot be digested before it is already old news.  But we can still solidify themes, ideas, moments in our lives that perhaps are driving us towards our purpose, whatever that might be.

TOW: Thanksgiving

Every year around thanksgiving, I tend to do a post about what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for several things this year:

• Great friends, and deepening relationships within my family
• A good work life, which, while it has its challenges, is still worthwhile and giving me the kind of experience I want and need
• My health.  I feel very, very lucky in this regard
• My mental health.  I feel just as lucky.
• Challenges.  I feel like life has been giving me a lot of challenges lately, but not the kind I can't overcome...the kind that make me a stronger and better person.  They're the good kind.

I have a lot of things I'm thankful for, but most of all, I'm thankful for all the good people around me.  I am truly rich in this regard.