At what point does ones strict adherence to a faith - be it faith in Life, faith in the Universe, faith in God, call it what you choose - result in irresponsible or reckless behavior? Clearly this can and does happen. My previous post about the confusing emotions I still feel to this day about the attacks of September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center is an obvious example of irresponsibility and absolute recklessness in faith. That’s a kind of extreme, fanatical faith that is, in my mind, crystal clear in its irresponsibility. But what about the more subtle, day-to-day potential that exists?
This is an amazing complexity of consciousness for me. No matter how many times I read about faith or using the law of attraction or thinking positive thoughts or the power of intention, I always wonder in the back of my mind how many people put too much faith in these practices to the point that they act irresponsibly.
Nothing is concrete in life. And I believe that this is part of the plan that the Universe has for us. Its part of the Lesson. It would be too “easy” if it were clear that a strong faith is all one needs to succeed in life or get the objects of ones desire to manifest. We would all be running around manifesting money and “stuff” and the world would be an absolute mess (as if it isn’t enough of a mess already).
I mean, thank God we all have egos that get in our way. I am SO grateful for ego. It keeps us from really and truly messing up the world.
I think this is one of the reasons that humans, as we evolved consciously and culturally, began to define good vs. bad as God vs. the Devil. As we learned that faith and confidence in our faith could deliver powerful results if practiced consistently, we also learned that the ego tended to insert itself into our efforts. It was only natural to philosophize that an opposing force was at work. A yang to the yin. The devil in the details.
I am personally not so sure that I believe in the devil. I believe whatever and wherever we came from is truly and naturally good because I not only feel goodness at the center of my own being but believe I have experienced enough of other peoples goodness to feel that goodness is our natural state. It’s the angle of repose for our spirits, if you will.
But then I hear about a shooting at a university and wonder if I have gotten this part right yet. Or I think about 9/11 and think that maybe my philosophy is wrong. But I can’t believe that. I have to believe that we are all good. So the question is, why do people do such horrible things? I don’t think the answer is one that we can ever truly formulate. I struggle with this almost more than any other spiritual conundrum because its very easy to think that there IS an evil side to this existence. You could describe many things that happen on a daily basis as evidence of this evil. But I simply can’t believe it. The Universe IS good and we, as spiritual beings, are good.
The only conclusion I come to after many hours and repetitions in philosophy, is that this reality truly is a product of our own views. Just as a strong and consistent faith (i.e., belief that all is good and the Universe is on our side) can lead to wonderful things in ones life, so to can a strong and consistent belief in the bad or the negative. If we believe that life has an evil side, then we create that evil through that belief and manifest it in our own lives. And that doesn’t mean that if it were humanly possible to always and 100% of the time have complete and utter confidence in this Goodness that “evil” things still aren’t going to happen. First of all, I don’t believe that it is humanly possible to have that complete and utter confidence 100% of the time because of the existence of the ego. And because we cannot reach that state, there will always be some form of struggle and pain and desperation in life. For some, the struggle will be more than for others because I think many of us forget about our purpose in life. Furthermore, there’s that previous topic of irresponsibility in faith.
Faith can and quite often is unfortunately used to justify beliefs and actions. People fly planes into buildings in the name of their faith. People also condemn other views because they have let their faith begin to describe their reality. Sometimes people believe something so much that they miss the cues the Universe provides that let us know we are off course and acting irresponsibly. These cues can be subtle so you have to pay close attention and therefore it’s easy to miss them if your are blinded by some faith.
At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s possible for us in this particular reality to truly comprehend this and rationalize it. For me, it’s just another one of the multitude of aspects in this reality that the Universe provides as a Lesson that only each of us can learn if we decide to choose to apply faith and stay conscious of trying to figure out what it is we are supposed to be learning.
