Defining Spiritual Faith in a Life of Distraction

- Perspective of a scientist and spiritual philosopher

It is not easy to be a human being. No matter what your life situation is, you are complex, and life is complex. Just going through a day or a week, much less months and years, can require all your attention. This is true whether you are homeless, work as an unskilled laborer, have a high education and position, are a wealthy “star” in life, or a business tycoon, etc….

We all, of course, seek to find the balance of pleasure and work in life. This is certainly a challenging thing in modern society. Life seems to move faster and faster, and there is less time or money for anything. Most families require two incomes for basic survival: paying the mortgage, food, children’s education, and necessities. So we work and save what energy and time we can for our loved ones and sometimes for ourselves.

Is there much left for spirituality at the end of the day? Is there room for Faith in our lives?

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Although numerous polls tell us that ~80% of people in the US believe in some sort of God [you may call Goddess, the Universe, the Creator, the Source, as you will]. Twenty % of these people are not completely sure, and only ~50% of those between 18 and 30 years of age are likely to believe or have any form of religion. Faith and religion as we know it, in particular Christianity, appear to be on the decline (University of California Press 2021).

So, I would like to talk about Spirituality (again…. See “Insights from a Scientist with a Poet’s Soul” if you want to understand why a scientist is concerned with spiritual matters). Maybe you would not expect a scientist to be much of an expert on Faith and Spirituality, and you would be right. But is anybody alive truly an expert on such things? There is so much we will never understand in this life. Yet, I think about such things and have studied the theosophical literature, multiple channeled spiritual documents, and endless thoughts of philosophers for decades. I have listened to that small voice within me.

About Faith…

It is my belief that many people, including those of us who consider ourselves religious or spiritual, do not always completely understand their Faith. I base this upon what I’ve read, upon behaviors we see in our world today, and upon conversations with highly religious and/or spiritual friends. Surprisingly, many discussions don’t progress well beyond the professing of faith itself. When further questioned, they say they have Faith because they believe there is a God.

Why am I, a scientist, writing about this? Mostly, it is because of this prodding vibration within me and accompanying images and signs that are right now nagging me to write. Maybe this means I have something important to say (i.e., something correct to explain), or perhaps my Spiritual Guides only wish me to write what I believe in the hopes that it will inspire you to think more deeply. I’m OK with either of these possibilities.

For me, this is how it works with my Spiritual Guides (my Guardian Angels), and I must have the assurance that I am of some service/benefit in what I do.

Definition of FAITH according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary

(1) belief and trust in and loyalty to God

(2) belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

(3) firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

Likely, I am not alone in thinking that these definitions are (a) sadly brief for such an important topic and (b) very much incomplete. For many people, including the powers that be at all the Dictionaries I consulted, Faith is pretty much an intellectual exercise. It is a belief. To look at definition 3, it seems that Faith in the existence of UFOs or Bigfoot would be on an equal footing with Faith in God.

I believe a lot of things that have little to do with God. I will not list them here, but they range from the obvious to the scientific to the arcane. And if I really think carefully, many of these obvious things I believe could be incorrect.

-I believe the chair I’m sitting in is solid, yet physicists’ perspectives on atomic and subatomic structures make me wonder how I can sit in my chair at all without falling through all the spaces between the subatomic particles, which themselves are just manifestations of energy.

-I believe in the color green, but isn’t it only a manifestation of 500–565 nanometer wavelengths of light hitting my photoreceptors, which allows my brain to render the color green in my visual field. It seems there are caveats even regarding what we consider reality.

I understand Faith as something different than mere belief. For me, Faith requires introspection and getting in touch with the spiritual side of yourself until you can find that certainty within you that you are a part of something much grander than what you see around yourself. With such a feeling and “knowing,” you understand that you are a part of the Divine Cosmos, a part of God. For me, this “knowing” is Faith.

When you achieve this type of Faith, it becomes impossible to go backward, to become agnostic or atheistic. That understanding becomes as much a part of you as any part of your body… more actually, since you know that this understanding will survive even death. With this kind of Faith, even at gunpoint, I remain resolute in my Faith. If I just believe because I belong to the church or because I like the idea, a gun may convince me that I have doubts. [Just for the record, I don’t believe God would want me to die for my Faith. However, I would maybe feel compelled to give my life, depending on the situation.]

Why is it important to define Faith in this way? First, I would say that Faith without such a deep and personal connection is bound to feel unfulfilling and perhaps terribly disappointing in times of trouble. Terrible things happen in the world, and without a full understanding of our relationship with God, we can lose our belief from our lack of perspective. The loss of a child, getting cancer, and good people getting away with terrible crimes… are all things that can get people questioning their faith.

What stands in the way of Faith?

I don’t think too many people actively seek out their Faith, rather they assume it as they become more involved in their religion. Intellectual belief can certainly be mistaken for Faith. It takes effort to find your Faith, for many people at least.

Strangely I was born with Faith (despite being raised by devout atheists) and don’t remember a time when I didn’t feel a connection with God. I also spent time later in life questioning and understanding my Faith and spiritual connection through meditation. It is believed by many that we are all born with this connection, and some children in their pre-school years even remember past lives. [Read “Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation” by Ian Stevenson, who devoted much of his life to studying reincarnation.]

At some point, most of us lose that in-born Faith and connectedness, perhaps in part trained out of us by our parents, who tell us we have vivid imaginations. It is also discouraged through peer pressure, societal pressure, the media, and just watching what happens to people who step too far outside the bounds of normal. If high school doesn’t shut down your every inclination of uniqueness, then you’re lucky.

Is it that Faith is seen as archaic in a world of high technology, artificial intelligence, supercomputers, smartphones, and streaming services? Are some people rejecting conventional religions in favor of a more broadly inclusive spiritual mindset? Is it that the world is moving so fast now that people are becoming less introspective about such grand concepts as spirituality? Has science become our new God?

I believe it is all these things, plus daily stress and distractions. I believe that, as a general population, we pay less attention to our health, to our diet, and to our Souls than ever before in history.

Finding Faith?

Not to worry. Whether or not you believe in God, God believes in you. Whether or not you talk to your Guardian Angels (and we all have them), they do their best to help you to experience what you decided to experience in this life. You may not believe this, and you may not believe in reincarnation of Souls, but I know this to be true from my reading and my experiences.

We are here to learn, but not necessarily to learn the things that we might expect. Maybe, equally important, we are here to experience life in all its different flavors. And this takes many lives to do so.

You can walk a closed life, never seeing mystery, immersed in mundanities, one foot in front of another. Maybe that’s what you wanted to experience in this life. And you can disregard, easily, anything of the miraculous in yourself, in others, in life. But maybe you can benefit by seeking enhanced awareness and wish to explore mysteries within and outside yourself. You can spend more time looking inward, seeking to understand yourself, the Universe, and where you fit within it all. Maybe you will find your Faith.

We each have a destiny (grand or small) and experience special things, also seeming either small or large. They happen to you when they are meant to happen, and you can notice them or not, but they will still happen, and they will still transform you and others in ways not always obvious. Will you recognize your growth? Will you understand?

If you feel yourself lost in the traps of our society, you should remember one thing… you are an immortal Spirit, a Being of Light and Heart, exploring and learning in human form. You are NOT a human, just thinking in vain that you might be more.

Everything is for a reason, everyone is here for a reason, and, somehow, it all fits together. In your Heart you know this is true. Your Soul is the reason for it all, and just the act of Being makes you an important part of everything that exists…

…but this does not make it easy.

The Path

There can be no rules or stark judgment in seeking yourself. We all face life, unsure, doing as we can.

When winds fiercely blow, and cold, driving rains come, the sweet morning Light still finds you wherever you are. If you’ve had hard lessons, they teach you humility, not to judge. Kind acceptance of everyone feels good within your Heart.

You don’t need wings to fly, you just need to remember little by little, step by step, that you are in Unity with God. You’re where you should be, along the winding path to the place you want to go.

Thank you for reading my story.

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