The Fallacy of Faith 2015 © – Matt Sharpe
Fallacy (n.) /ˈfaləsē/
a. a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument.
b. a failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.
c. faulty reasoning; misleading or unsound argument.
Faith (n.) \ˈfāth\
a. strong belief or trust in someone or something, not based on proof
b. belief in the existence of God : strong religious feelings or beliefs
c. a system of religious beliefs
Faith is a concept that has a somewhat wide definition to different religions and has an equally wide degree of importance between the various groups that use it. While Judaism comes from having virtually no use of the term or of any statements regarding it, Christianity and Islam both consider it to be considerably more important in their faiths. Hinduism also uses it but in a rather different way than many others. It is called astikya in Sanskrit. Some have said that faith in Hinduism is not in a static state as might be perceived in Islam or Christianity by comparison, because Hinduism is ever evolving itself and faith goes through several states in Hinduism. Beginning as a belief in what cannot yet be seen, it later transforms via personal experiences which teach the individual using their own perceptions. At a later state, a Hindu finds that seeing what they had previously had faith in being true, then provides the ability to see what the outer eyes can never see. In Buddhism, faith is only used as a trust that the Buddha is their teacher and that what he has said is true, which personal experience will eventually prove to the individual.
Regardless of the various points of view that religions have concerning faith, it is found to be very much a dualistic thing, which ceases to exist once a Soul has come to the state of Self-Realization on the Soul Plane. This is where the idea of faith having or being a fallacy begins. Many find themselves following the traditions that they were raised with, and following the very same religious path that their parents did, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but can also be a rather status-quo and unchallenging way to go that might not provide the necessary lessons for the expansion of awareness that Soul seeks. While the various conditions concerning such a situation will invariably be different for each case, the desire to challenge that faith is also not necessarily negative, especially if this helps the individual concerned arrive at an ever greater and more expanded state of experienced beingness beyond that which he had been aware of previously.
Faith, while being dualistic is nevertheless an important starting point that is worth knowing fully. While its beginning is based in the trust that a thing or group of things are true, it still has the potential to take one far beyond its initial dualities and into an awareness that exists on many levels. When one uses faith as a starting point, knowing that experience will carry them far beyond that starting point, it behooves one to be constantly aware of their movements through varying experiences and the states within those experiences. Placing the attention on the things that change as well as the reasons that caused those things to happen, is always a learning experience and is one that can reveal many previously unnoticed levels and depths of meaning within a particular concept. By purposely becoming aware of these variances, one learns to take a not only economical way through the experience, but also the one that produces the most results, within the context of learning, which as a result brings about the expansion of awareness that Soul constantly seeks.
One must make their way through each varying level or degree of experience in each of the contexts that their own spiritual unfoldment requires to attain that next level or what we most often call a “state of consciousness,” or a “state of being.” Spirituality is meant to be a vibrant and living thing, one that is constantly tested and challenged and thereby gives the necessary inner strength needed to continue the “climb,” on the “path.” A thing that realistically should never end and thereby guarantee a constant and growing interaction with the Divine Principle as well as all of life. The idea is not necessarily hard to understand, but the practice of it daily can be difficult to maintain. On this area the quality of detachment becomes necessary, as it alone can keep one out of the ruts of habitual behavior, those being sorts of “traps of laziness” that can easily lure one into them only to swallow them whole. When this occurs the connection to the ECK begins to be cut off because the individual chooses it as an option that most often appeals because of a level of comfort that it appears to offer. It is in a situation of this sort where the ECK and the Mahanta shall bring the individual into states of experience that can appear to be harsh but in reality, have become necessary to break off the sort of rocky shell that can at times form around one’s psychic space, cutting off the Spiritual Flow.
A situation such as this is often the product of faith, hence its being mentioned here. At times faith can go beyond the degree of trust that it was meant to be only to become a barrier that stands in one’s way as they try to unfold and progress further along the chosen path. When this happens, faith is revealing its other side, and demonstrating clearly its dual nature. It is for this basic reason that I say that faith is best used as a starting place, but one that will continually develop until growing into something more than it was at its beginning with an individual. The various realizations one has on the nature of faith should be recorded in a dream diary, if one uses these. It is never a bad thing to include personal events and the realizations that they so often can bring, even if that is born not from a dream in the sleeping state, but rather a personal experience within or the realizations resulting from contemplation of its reason for occurring and the lessons that contains. I personally use my own dream diary to include any and all inner experiences, thoughts and remarks on the spiritual subjects that are involved, and that offer new realizations that hadn’t been available before. Along with this I often suggest that others consider reviewing their dream diaries at the end of each month, looking for patterns that might become visible, or other realizations about the experiences, dreams, thoughts, and emotions they have been having for that time period, as often this can bring things not seen previously well into view.
Not only can these teach new interpretations or lessons, but by doing so they also widen the viewpoint and thereby the “stance” that one has as they go through daily life, allowing for a more sturdily balanced position that is better able to deal effectively and in a positive manner with the situations that life offers for our learning. This ensures the ability of one to constantly be unfolding and learning new interpretations of truths that may already have been known on one level, but that now expand into wider levels that had not been obvious before. This characteristic is the very pulse and lifeblood of any living teaching, being that it is living, it must also be dynamic and constantly growing from the perspective of chelas or students. This does not necessarily mean that new truths are sprouting from it so much as it means that newer interpretations are being understood as well as newer applications for a principle to be used in daily life.
Faith happens to be a thing that for the most part, is followed unwittingly and is often prompted by a sense of duty and tradition. If one examines these more closely, it may be found that duty and tradition do not account for all the situations that one might come across in life and they will not necessarily provide the best options for, or solutions to them. One always needs to examine the true reasons they have faith in a statement or book, or person or path. It is truly one’s responsibility to observe and discern what they do in life and the true reasons why they make the choices they do. Sometimes faith can become an action whose beginning is with guilt for a choice already made. Because of the guilt, duty and tradition can become a diversionary tactic that takes the attention away from the action that caused the guilt and thus away from the self-responsibility required of one to balance it out again. In a situation of that sort, having faith in a principle is not always an honest action to take.
When a duty or tradition is used as a diversionary tactic to distract one from their own feelings of guilt, that person makes no forward headway because they refuse to be honest with themselves as to the motivations that caused them to adopt that method as their own. One who has the strength to be honest with themselves can easily recognize their true motivations for choices and actions and in that way, because of their self-honesty, not be led astray by any such motives. A person who allows guilt to be a motivator will eventually find that they have chosen to make it their master, promoting it into a position of power over the way their choices are made. When this occurs it inevitably becomes a problem for that individual that they must recognize, admit the existence of, and thoroughly extricate it from their being and their actions.
Another potential occurrence is rooted in these ideas of duty and tradition, and while not being necessarily negative, it can easily become so. This makes it necessary for an individual to inspect their own situation to decide if it exists in their life. What I speak of is an individual that accepts and follows the spiritual path that their parents had, whether this is because they were taught that this was the right thing to do or way to go, or because those parents insisted on it creating a situation of fear regarding it. It is always the individual’s own responsibility to consider these things and to discern what they are as well as their reason for having been adopted, and then to take it another step further in deciding if it is a way that one should remain on or not. One thing in this context that must be known is the actual reason it is adopted. Was it due to heavy suggestion or force? Or perhaps only because it is the way a particular family has always taken and is therefore expected of one. There are also the possibilities of that path providing experience and learning as that can be a widely varying factor overall.
While adopting the religion of one’s parents due to the following of a tradition or sense of duty that follows from faith, there is the other end of the dichotomy, turning one’s back on a familial traditional religion, there is the acceptance of what can be called a false path, one that is not able to deliver on its claims. Such a thing can occur due to placing faith into a path that makes claims, but never actually follows through on those, never providing any evidence or experience for the results it claims can be had from its methodology. The point that is being demonstrated by these varying factors is the duality of faith, in and of itself. While it does have positive potentials and uses, it is still a dual creature by its very nature and can never be trusted to be anything other than this. Every beneficial use will have its opposite, which must be expressed to regain a balanced state. This fact makes faith into a thing that is not ever of the utmost good, regardless of the purpose one chooses to see and exclaim to themselves. It will always be nothing other than the duality that it is and has always been, and therefore is unable to propel one beyond the dual states into that of singularity, the realm of the Soul.
The means by which an individual can determine whether a path they are considering is a true or a false one, can vary considerably, especially considering that all paths that exist in the physical realm will be found to have duality going on within them, from the best to the worst. A path must be found to be one that not only is able to teach its lessons and qualities in a very applicable and useful way, one that while being potentially challenging is not impossible to accomplish. A thing that helps greatly is what in Eckankar is referred to as Viveka, or right discernment. The ability to recognize which choices will help Soul to advance, rather than stand in Its way forward. Using this as a tool with which to investigate a path or religion will provide one with what they need to identify qualities that they witness while happening. One must always be aware also, that regardless of the meaning, or lack thereof, that is witnessed or applied, there will also be ones that are even further outside of that particular viewpoint, and this indicates that there is potential for a further growth within that path.
Now, having said so much about other paths and religions, it must also be realized in a balanced way, that no path is useless. Each has its place within the whole of life and serves a purpose as well as a particular group and states of consciousness within the whole. This means that every religion can provide benefits and spiritual growth to those that participate in them, as well as to hinder their way forward. This factor alone is reason enough to allow them to be as they are, and to freely serve those that are served by it, and likewise to allow those that choose to remain trapped within them, if that is what happens to be the case at hand. Compassion and detachment must always exist and be extended to the various paths by virtue of the fact that each of these are simply aspects of Love and exist only in accordance with the Law of Love as it is manifested in this world. Where necessary one can also extend yet another face of Love, known as forgiveness to other paths that may have held troubles or hard experiences for the individual at some point previously, and when this can be extended, this lifts the individual beyond the dualistic states of faith, and directly into the heavenly state of being which is the mainstay of the Soul’s expression of awareness and the realm beyond duality, the first of the true heavens, the Atma Lok or Soul Plane.
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