For some reason today, I decided to go down quite the rabbit hole of Alan Watts recordings, writings, and quotes. I stumbled upon this one and it really stuck with me: “To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
That word faith stood out, as did float. The dictionary describes faith as complete trust in someone or something and spirituality as the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul and not that of material things. A quest or inquiry for meaning.
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It seems like in todays world, we are struggling with our Spirit as well as our faith. For many of us the dogma of religion doesn’t answer the real questions that we have about our experiences being human in the 21st century. Especially when that dogma is only practiced or carried out under certain conditions, such as a church or when applied to only those who are deemed worthy by the dogma. To be honest, religion is failing in its integrity and many have abandoned it completely for a rational view of the world.
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That’s because many of those people who’ve abandoned relegation were rejected by it for their beliefs or their very existence. These souls are wounded, hurt, rejected, and feel abandoned by the religion they thought was there for them. This makes people feel unsafe having faith and viewing spirituality as something that is dangerous.
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Therefore, when someone feels betrayed by religion, wounded or hurt by their religion or faith for just being who they are, it’s quite difficult to want to explore the human spirit. You can literally harbor thoughts and feelings that you are inherently broken or unworthy. Rejecting the constructs that rejected you, but at the same time, inwardly still believing on some unconscious level that you aren’t worthy of the God of your religion or understanding.
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So what do you do? Well, you shut faith down. Instead, you reroute your focus on science or law or latch on to a rational explanation of how the world works. A set of fixed beliefs that sound right, but in actuality, you’re drifting way from your human spirit that needs meaning and magic and love.
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The concept of faith is confusing. You may have faith in science or the sun coming up every day, but certainly not in something or some deity we can’t see or touch. Interesting, right? The challenge faith presents for all of us is where to focus our faith.
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Because, faith is an ocean that every single one of us is floating in. So, when you stop the struggle, you float. Faith holds you, which allows you to relax and listen. And as you are floating your truth can come up to the surface of your conscious mind. The answer to your dilemma. The directions to take on our path forward.
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But, you have to explore your inner depths. Expose yourself to your hurts so that they can be mended and healed. And once you are found, once you are brave enough to choose to live your truth out loud, the easier it will get. At the same time, the longer you hide, the harder it will be to unmask yourself.
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You know what you have to do. Take that leap. Faith is attainable and you can feel confident that you are making the right decisions for yourself even if you don’t know wha the outcome will truly be. You can have faith that when you act on your inner truth, you will find your way to freedom.
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Now that is faith.