Faith Law #7

To have Faith and to be faithful come from the same place...If we remember who we really are Faith will fill us again.

                          Cynthia F. Davidson from Wisdom Wheel Faith card 

(For a set of cards, stones or a poster visit our website www.thewisdomwheel.com)

How's your Faith doing these days? Mine's been taking a beating lately, as I question the capabilities of our political, legal, economic, educational, health and social systems. 

I no longer have Faith in corrupt, cannibalistic capitalism, divisive organized religions or pseudo-democratic institutions, as they devolve into bitter partisanship battles and gridlock, instead of doing their jobs. The basic needs of so many are not being met and things are getting worse, not better. So, what can we still believe in?

Everything boils down to our belief system, for that's what we've really put our Faith in. And obviously our beliefs have created our systems, and to fix one we have to address the other. 

For the next ten days make Faith your watch word and see what happens when you talk about Faith with family, friends & co-workers. Do you squirm when thinking about bringing up this word? Why? Does Faith seem naive these days when cynics and hecklers get all the attention that hasn't already been hijacked by fundamentalists of all stripes? Don't limit your discussions about Faith and beliefs to one Faith system or religion. Ask about emotional, intuitive, intellectual and spiritual beliefs and forms of Faith. And their outcomes.

Write the word Faith where you'll see it often; on a Post It note, in your journal or on a rock. Let your relationship to the meaning of Faith evolve during the next 10 days. Ask for the gifts and blessings of Faith each morning, and evening. 

Look for news about all kinds of Faith in the world. Share what you find in the blog. Your comments and questions are welcome. Here are some words of wisdom about the Law of Faith. 

Faith is a more practical way to deal with everyday life than cynicism, toughness, or defensiveness. Faith can be sensible and savvy, and practicing it daily increases its usefulness and reliability. Yet faith is also tinged with mystery, for it is the connection to our unknown potential and the power of creation itself. Faith is the way out of misery, the way into self-knowledge, and the way toward a more fulfilling and effective life...

D. Patrick Miller in The Book of Practical Faith

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.

Thomas Paine

An emotionally healthy person is committed to a principle higher than himself: he has faith.

Sue Wahlroos

Belief is truth held in the mind; faith is a fire in the heart.

Joseph Fort Newton

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

Khalil Gibran

Faith is a function of the heart. It must be enforced by reason. The two are not antagonistic as some think. The more intense one’s faith is, the more it whets one’s reason. When faith becomes blind it dies.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

A faith that hasn't been tested can't be trusted.

Adrian Rogers

I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

Wilson Mizner

Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible.

Stanislaw Lem

Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe. 

Albert Einstein

Faith is the feeling of light...the presentiment of knowledge. Like a motive force, faith intensifies the energy. Despair is the death of faith.

Margo Kirtikar, Ph.D

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Imagination is the …very eye of faith.

Henry Ward Beecher

In Buddhism, faith is defined as: a positive attitude to virtue and objects worthy of respect. It is the doorway for all positive qualities. Different types of faith include:

a. Uncritical faith, motivated for no apparent reason

b. Longing faith, motivated by an emotionally unstable mind

c. Conviction, motivated by sound reasoning

Faith comes with practice. Live by faith until it becomes rocklike, and unshakable, find the true freedom of the Spirit.

Eileen Caddy

Faith is to believe what you do not see;

the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Saint Augustine

The word Faith is used, but it is really a feeling. What they say in church every Sunday can't be proved, but the feeling that people have can, because they have it.

 William Trevor, Irish novelist

Faith is trust in what the spirit learned eons ago.

B. H. Roberts

Faith is not something we acquire once and for all. Faith is an insight that must be acquired at every single moment.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Not truth, but faith, keeps the world alive.

Edna St. Vincent Millay


(In 10 days, I'll post #8 The Law of Love in this sequence of 36. Stay tuned.)