I've been thinking about spirituality for the past few days. I've known for some time that I'm not one for religious faith. I don't know if it's a result of my upbringing or brain chemistry or who knows what else, but I cannot believe in some higher God when He chooses not to provide us with some sort of evidence for His existence.
My train of thought generally leads to a sort of strange half-regret that I don't feel this way. If so many people achieve a great fulfillment in their lives due to this faith, what could I be missing? This is a somewhat disturbing feeling for me, because I generally pride myself in being independent of religious "interference" in my life. The thought that this independence might be damaging rather than helpful just feels wrong.
But then I was thinking again. I don't have blind faith in some magical man who lives in the sky, but I do seem to have a general faith in humanity. Time and time again, reports indicate that many of us don't seem to learn our lessons about responsibility, tolerance, and the dangers of our own weaker natures. (For reference, see "Fox News, Entire History of") Sure, there are plenty of instances of true compassion and goodness, and it is on these that I concentrate. And it's nice to know that some of these acts are based in other forms of faith.
The fact is, it's not entirely our choice whether we have faith in our lives. Either you believe that there is always the potential for betterment, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, or you cease to live in the true sense of the word.
Reading back over that, I seem to make a few huge leaps between my thoughts. Makes sense to me, anyhow.
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My faith comes from along the same lines - actually, nearly identical. I don't think we've ever talked about it too much beyond a general "man, organized religion sucks" kind of way. But yeah, humanity. Good stuff. It's not like faith has to be this capial F thing you carry around with you all the time, either. What if you make a date with someone, with confidence that they'll show up. You have faith in them, in other words.
Then, of course, you get into why people do what they do. Do you believe selfless acts exist? Lincoln didn't. On the other hand, he was a firm believer in people working to better their position in life through hard work. And unless your hard work consists of, I dunno, something like subsistence farming (which he hated, incidentally), your hard work probably benefits others somehow.
At this point, I'm basically repeating verbatim what my Lincoln professor has said, which, if nothing else, proves I've been paying attention.
Anyway, I enjoy this definition of faith: "something that is believed especially with strong conviction." The movie I'm trying to write is kind of about this whole train of thought, actually. Rock doesn't kill the zombies through sonic pitches or anything; rather, it's the pure faith my characters have in the goodness of rock'n'roll. I have a bit of a speech written for the end of the film that talks about this. Now let's see if I can ever get to the end. I've got 5 pages right now. Guh.
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