Open Writing

When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead - John Greenleaf Whittier

From where does this human activity of faith derive, and to what should it be, or not be applied? If we apply it to negative as well as positive, are we losing faith, or merely becoming practical? And who decides what is worthy of faith, to dictate to the masses or the singular soul that which they are assigned to believe? And faith is not simply applied to religious practices.

There is an ancient Chinese saying, 'May you live in interesting times'. I think we can honestly say we live in interesting times.

We live in a time when faith in our governments, business leaders, law enforcement, legal and judicial systems, clergy and religious systems, doctors and the medical systems, teachers and education, parents and family life are at an all-time low all over the world. Anti-depressants are the fastest selling drug in the world.

Too many of us have faith in the fact that we will be deceived and disappointed by all of our cultural leaders. We seem to have lost our ability to have faith that good will actually triumph over evil, and with good cause it would seem. Who is standing up to prove that there is more good in the world than bad?

In my soul rages a battle without victor; between faith without proof and reason without charm - Rene Sully-Prudhomme

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable - H.L. Mencken.

My personal faith allows me to believe that good far outweighs the bad. Simply because the negative, greed-driven forces seem to have taken over corporations, governments, religions, and other groups, as well as the media that feed us the never ending stream of dire news, wars, fear, hatred, anger and hopelessness, does not make it true! Therein lies the truth for me that my life is about love, caring, sharing, hope . . . faith.

I have faith in the inherent goodness of the human being, that given the opportunity, most people choose good. I don't believe most people get up in the morning trying to decide in which way they can harm someone else for that day. Even if the news media and the power brokers want us to feel hopeless, depressed, down trodden, we can look past this veil of false evidence and see the heart of man beating warmly, openly and driven by faith itself.

Faith is like electricity; you can't see it, but you can see the light - Anonymous

And you can't tell me that every single one of the 'fact' driven scientists of the world goes home after a long day of analyzing their part of life on this planet, in this universe, and has no faith in things they cannot see, touch, or hear.

Bring me a cup of gravity, as my sister says to people who mock psychic abilities, who need absolute proof that the psychic world exists.

Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws—a thing which can never be demonstrated - Tyron Edwards

Or how about the ever increasingly unpopular subject of God? Every day, it seems, we are asked to close our eyes to the existence of God so that someone else can feel comfortable in their own choice of beliefs.

So what will it be folks? Faith or fear, fact or fiction? We wake up each morning to our choices for the day.

Every tomorrow has two handles; we can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith. Anonymous.

© 2006 Anna Mancini