Faith is Soul Work
Author:
Posted: November 11th. 2001
Times Viewed: 3,638
There are various aspects of faith. People mean different things when they speak of 'faith.' Some mean the inner conviction, or confidence, they feel in a particular belief or practice. Others refer to 'faith' as being synonymous with their religion or ideology, or its manifesto or creed. And still others regard faith as a power or source that one can acquire or appropriate, in order to effect certain results in daily life and even to determine one's ultimate destiny. Some believe that faith works the same for everyone, while others believe that a certain formula must be applied. Some think that faith comes from 'God/dess, ' and that even God/dess uses faith. Others believe it comes from within the individual. Many people believe that everyone else has the same concept or definition of faith as they themselves do.
Faith is more than mere belief. Otherwise, faith would be fickle and frail, changing every moment as a person gathers new information, gains new knowledge, and grows in understanding. Trivial, tenuous, and transitory elements such as notions, opinions, impressions, attitudes, and ideas would be the basis of faith. It would be ethereal and ephemeral, ineffective. In short, faith would be fleeting. It would always fail.
But faith is more than awareness, acknowledgement, assent, or agreement. It is more than mere acceptance of what 'truth' is. Faith goes much deeper and provides the foundation for all those other elements. It is linked to the very fiber of one's being. Faith is a process, that originates in the core of one's being and works from the inside out. It lives in the soul, where one's very self-identity resides.
My primary experience of faith was within Christianity. I grew up in a Christian environment. As a teenager, I explored many different views and beliefs. During the mid and late 1970s, until the early 80s, I embraced much of what came to be called 'New Age.' But at age 23, and for the next fifteen years, I devoted myself to Christ and tried to harmonize all my beliefs. However, there was always an underlying tension among many of these elements. Orthodox and evangelical Christianity draws strict boundaries and demands exclusive loyalty to its principles and practices, its doctrine and dogma. To a great degree, it prescribes one's lifestyle, associations, and personal pursuits. For the latter seven years of my Christian experience, I sought a more mystical approach and lived a semi-monastic lifestyle. During this time, I came to understand many of these concepts in ways other than how they were prescribed.
Eventually, extreme circumstances forced me to make hard choices, according to my deepest convictions. I found myself deciding to leave Christianity. I no longer knew myself in that context. It was not a peaceful decision. Faith did not 'make it all better.' I suffered spiritual and emotional trauma. The death of self that I have experienced during this exodus has felt exponentially more severe than the death/rebirth I went through in coming to Christ. (I mention this not as an invitation to debate the merits of the Christian religion or the concept of Christ. Rather, I want to illustrate that faith continues to operate even when all the outward objects or context are changed or removed.)
I referred to my ordeal, for conversational convenience, as a 'crisis of faith.' But it wasn't faith that was the problem. Some say I 'lost' my faith. And in the sense of a religious belief system and theological creed, I did indeed discard and dismantle my Christian 'faith.' However, faith is not a material object, such as a dime that one 'loses' accidentally through a hole in the pocket.
Faith does have real substance. The Christian Bible, King James Version, says that 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.' (Hebrews 11v1) The New American Standard Version states that 'Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.' According to that definition, there is substance to faith, and this substance provides convincing evidence ('conviction' in perhaps more than one sense). Faith is the substance of something hoped for or desired. Faith provides assurance, or deep confidence (conviction) within the individual, that what is hoped for is will become realized. Through the years, I came to adapt this definition to my own experience.
So what happens when a person realizes that what s/he has believed in deeply, pursued passionately, and committed to totally turns out to be not true? Has faith failed? Not according to this definition. By its very nature, faith cannot fail. So what fails? Outward forms and details change and rearrange. But outward forms are not the truth, and they are not the substance of faith.
So what is the 'stuff of faith'?
Faith is not 'fluff.' It is the substance of hope, the expression of the human soul. Faith is the raw material and the process of refinement, of the inner person. Faith is the inner working of the soul. Faith operates and thrives where the True Self originates and resides. Faith is therefore the determination of the Will. It is the striving to develop oneself, character, mind, emotions. To integrate spirit, soul, and body into a whole person. To evolve, self-actualize, to know oneself and to be true to oneself. As the soul grows, it strengthens. Faith feeds, fuels, and fosters the soul, both one's own soul and the souls of others. Laugh with those who laugh, weep with those who weep, sing or be silent and listen. Interact, empathize, share, and bond in both joy and sorrow, gain and loss, pleasure and pain. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, care for the ill, comfort the distressed. These are fruits of faith.
Faith is not 'blind.' It has sight, aim, and vision. Not only does it have substance, but faith also provides the form, developing and growing into the completed image. Insight and intuition, inspiration and revelation provide detail, fine tuning and toning. These are some of the 'evidences' of faith at work within. They are vehicles to convey faith. The ways in which we respond to them are outward proofs of faith. The results are the fruit from the labor of faith. Creativity in art, music, literature, construction, and invention are also results of faith. And so are procreation and nurturing.
Although faith is not blind, sometimes it does take leaps into darkness. When it does, faith becomes the light and fire, in the dark and cold of harsh reality. A person who does not venture into the unknown, one who does not take risks, is not living by faith. Following the promptings of one's soul, traveling the road less taken, meeting strangers and making new friends, learning new lessons, finding new treasures - all these come about by the efforts of faith. And perhaps by faith's design. Feelings of 'déjà vu, ' sensitivity to the paranormal, and prophetic dreaming may be evidences of faith's providence.
Faith is not weak or passive. Faith is a Verb. A strong and active verb. Faith sustains the soul/self when all beliefs falter, the truth becomes false, friends forsake, reality fails, and all of life falls apart. The death/rebirth process seems to be required for true enlightenment, not only of one's chosen religion, spiritual path, or other discipline, but in order to know one's self. False self, Ego, must be done away, so that true self may emerge from the inside out, from the core, the deepest depths of being. There is where truth, reality, life, and self reside, originate, and happen moment to moment.
This process is neither quick nor convenient. Rebirth, re-emergence of new or real self does not come right on the heels of death to false self. One must face the darkness, plunge into the abyss, be remade in the crucible. Here is where faith is most at work. It is constantly making, unmaking, and remaking the soul, the self. Here is the foundation, the ground zero, 'holy the firm, ' as one author describes it (Annie Dillard, 1977). It is only during this long 'dark night of the soul' (Saint John of the Cross) that one can find and know one's self. As one songwriter puts it 'one step deeper into darkness, closer to the light' (Bruce Cockburn, 1994).
Faith is the proverbial Teacher, the wise Guide who teaches us wisdom, and helps us become teachers in turn. Faith is the Lover of the soul, of the whole person; the Nurturer who molds and shapes it all together; the familiar stranger we are ever coming to know, and to love in return.
Faith is the raw substance of the soul, fired by the passion of the spirit, tempered by the mind, expressed by the heart in everyday life, moment by moment, the rhythm to the beat of the ongoing inner process. And this process often goes undetected by the conscious mind, until the quality and strength of faith is needed or tested. Faith is what sustains the soul, maintains the determination of will to go on, to rebuild, in the wake tragedy. Whether divorce from an unfaithful spouse, death of a best friend, or even betrayal by one's 'God.'
Faith is mythopoetic, incarnational, revelational. It is the touching of heaven while being grounded to the earth. It provides discipline and produces one's craft, which in turn reflects back upon the crafting of one's soul.
Faith does not fail. However, the objects of faith may prove unreliable. What one places trust in may turn out to be untrue. When someone says that 'faith failed, ' it is really the object of faith that failed. But faith continues its work, and if one is true to one's self, the process of faith will prevail. Through trial and error of experience, one may come to learn that the truest object of faith is one's self, and that the purest goal of faith is to develop into a full and whole human being.
Faith is the beginning and end of all things, and all in between. It is what moves us to move on. It is what motivated me to write this essay. And when I ran out of room in every nook and cranny of my piece of scrap paper, faith moved me to turn on my word processor. Faith is the Author who conceives and crafts the Book that is Life. The result of the process is a living poem, song, portrait, temple, or garden. As another poet has described it, the work of faith is a 'Human Becoming' (Larry L. Chaney, 1995). And faith's masterpiece is the Person.
Faith gives birth to hope, which in turn creates love. Author and speaker John Bradshaw talks about reclaiming one's inner person and then moving on to 'Creating Love' as 'the next great stage of growth' (1992). Faith is 'the substance, ' hope the expression, and love the aim, goal, completion, and ultimate realization. Faith does the hard work. Faith plows and plants, hope cultivates, love reaps, life feasts.
Peace Out,
Mawr Pompiwn
ABOUT...
Location: , USA
Bio: After many years deep in Christianity, and an agonizing exodus, Mawr Pompiwn is journeying in a different spiritual direction. He is trying to re-explore Celtic Old Ways. He has Celtic and Cherokee ancestry. He wants to pursue creative writing, grow his own food, learn about alternative energy sources, and take up amateur astronomy. Of importance are Autumn, Moon, Jazz, Cat. He is single, has no children, but is considering adoption someday. October 30 is his most sacred day. He approaches life intensely but appreciates grey humour. Both serious devotion and healthy skepticism in all things.
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