What is the meaning of faith? What purpose do you think it serves? Does not having faith affect quality of life? How?
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What is the meaning of faith?
What purpose do you think it serves?
Does not having faith affect quality of life? How?
I think that faith is a decision. "I can't be certain of the truth, but this is the path that I have chosen." It's like being faithful to a relationship - it's not a consistent state of being so much as it is a willingness to continually rededicate the self to the path. It can involve all sorts of questioning and uncertainty, there is no need to flawlessly believe... the crucial element of faith is the willingness to choose to keep believing, even when there's no way of knowing. I think it does require a willingness to value this sort of practice as being inherently good or worthy, without necessarily leading to an ultimate truth. Kind of like the pop song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus.
I was looking for something else about this guy, but found this instead. Don't be turned off by the site the article is on. This guy is worth learning about/from.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/08/08/profiles-in-manliness-viktor-frankl/
In the Bible, faith is described as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." When I first read it, I couldn't wrap my head around it. Three decades later, it makes sense to me on a very profound level.
What purpose do I think it serves? It allows manifestation where it may at first not seem possible.
Does not having it affect quality of life? I believe so, absolutely. Negatively. Without faith, I imagine only relying on things I can detect with my five senses, and affect with my own hands.