RE: The subtle distinction between belief & faith

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:40:27 -0700 

 

 

From: [email protected] 
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of meekerdb
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 7:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: The subtle distinction between belief & faith

 

On 7/15/2014 7:23 PM, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List wrote:

Some quoted passages from Alan Watts (author of The Wisdom of Insecurity - 
1951) regarding the distinction between belief and faith that seemed pertinent 
to me to several of the discussion threads going on here. 

Chris

 

Quoting him:




We must here make a clear distinction between belief and faith, because, in 
general practice, belief has come to mean a state of mind which is almost the 
opposite of faith. Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the 
truth is what one would “lief” or wish it to be. The believer will open his 
mind to the truth on the condition that it fits in with his preconceived ideas 
and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to 
the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a 
plunge into the unknown. 


And skepticism is the dogmatic embrace of a doctrine without evidence.  
Ignorance is strength.  War is peace. Freedom is slavery.  And words mean 
whatever I want them too (The Caterpillar).

 

Yes… this persistent subject of words… these precarious semantic bundles we 
launch at each other across the abyss that exists from mind to mind. It is 
truly an imperfect system…. These words, but then, what else do we have? 

Math… sure and for much it describes beautifully and succinctly, but though on 
some level math may describe everything, for us mere mortals words are what me 
must per force endure… imperfect as they may be.





Belief clings, but faith lets go. In this sense of the word, faith is the 
essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion that is not 
self-deception.






[…]






The present phase of human thought and history … almost compels us to face 
reality with open minds, and you can only know God through an open mind just as 
you can only see the sky through a clear window. You will not see the sky if 
you have covered the glass with blue paint.






But “religious” people who resist the scraping of the paint from the glass, who 
regard the scientific attitude with fear and mistrust, and confuse faith with 
clinging to certain ideas, are curiously ignorant of laws of the spiritual life 
which they might find in their own traditional records. A careful study of 
comparative religion



 A careful study of religion is the surest path to atheism. 

Brent

 

 

Agreed… in addition, a careful study of the actual history of religion and the 
institutions of religious power will fill one’s heart with a natural healthy 
disgust and horror, exposing the fundamental hypocrisy of the institution of 
religion – as practiced. When one sums the written texts with the actual 
practice, the picture gets even uglier.

Beginning with the insane proposition: “Believe or else!”, most religions 
quickly degenerate… no wonder they prove in practice to be such murderous, 
rapacious enterprises.

Chris

 

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