Journal
"What is Faith?"
Deciding to commit to or believe in something that is outside of our immediate grasp is usually difficult and very stressful. Faith, this belief often times requiring a very strong sense of trust, challenges the person who possesses it to take a risk and believe in something that may or may not be true. Seculary defined as an "allegiance to duty or a person" or "something that is believed, especially with a strong conviction," faith, because it is best based on reasoning rather than concrete evidence as well as a strong sense of trust, is a calculated risk. As Catholics, we define faith as an intellectual assent to a loving God, and further describe Faith by the characteristics that make it up: a grace, requiring a human response, a risk, reasonable, certain, seeking understanding, and a virtue. Acknowledging these characteristics, we must always strive to avoid having have blind faith--believing in God with nothing to support our belief. Instead, we must find a balance between beliefs and reason. This balance, called "The Golden Way," avoids the extremes of nihilism and radicalism. Nihilism, strongly criticizing beliefs and any form of institution, concludes that the human existence is meaningless as it merely uses reason to deny the existence of truth all together. On the other end of the spectrum, radicalism, practiced by fundamentalists who interpret Scripture very literally, and by fanatics who zealously believe something to an extent that it contradicts reason, consists of believing something very strongly without any evidence to support that belief. It is very important that we avoid these extremes and instead find a balance where our beliefs are supported by reason. Faith is this "Golden Way." However, because faith is a grace, a gift from God, and because we have free will, we have the option to say "yes" or "no" to life. Unlike nihilists, who push off life as meaningless, it is important that we say "yes" to faith and life, and in doing this we must realize that "sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most."(Second Hand Lions)
Three Important Ideas of the Section:
1.The Andy Griffith Show episode about Mr. McBeevee is a prime example of what faith is. In Andy's response to Barney's confused accusation, saying "no...I believe in Opie," Andy exemplifies how faith, requiring a risk and virtue, should be based on trust and reason. Potentially losing the moral lesson of honesty in believing Opie, Andy takes the risk as he realizes that he instead should trust in Opie's wild claim because Opie, he reasons, has always been trustworthy in the past and because as a father, he must seek understanding of what is mysterious about the one he loves. (Just as we seek understanding about God, our Father, who is mysterious to us) Basing his belief off his reasoning, Andy practices prudence and justice(fairness towards Opie) as he calmly listens to Opie's interesting tale. Freely choosing to belive Opie, Andy places his faith in the boy as he takes the "calculated risk." We must use this example to help us understand that faith doesn't always come easy, but it truly can, as the fifth foundational lesson says, help us make very important decisions to our benefit.
2."I don't know Who or what put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer YES to Someone or Something, and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaninful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal."
--Dag Hammarskjold
This quote describes the fundamental option that everyone faces at some point in his or her life. This option is the choice to say "Yes" or "No" to life's challenges and meaning. If one says "Yes", then one decides that life is worth living and decides to continue on when he or she has reached the lowest point or hardest time of his or her life. However, saying "No" to this option, like nihilism, states that life is meaningless, and that goals in life are unimportant. Saying "Yes" to this option requires a great deal of faith. This answer requires the person to believe that existence has profound importance, and in a world that constantly asks "What is the meaning of life?", this is a very difficult thing to ponder. Facing the challenges and risks that life presents each day, saying "YES" to the fundamental option requires one to believe that it is all worth it and that there is meaning behind it all. Examples of people who said "YES" to this choice and based their actions off of their decision(faith decision as in 5 FL) could be Dick Hoyt, Fr. Gabriel and Rodrigo("The Mission,") Jim Goodnight, and Danny Meyer.
3."In some ways I feel we are as confused as ever, but I believe we are confused on a higher level, and about more important things."
--Bob Overkamp
Relating to the human condition in which we, as part of being human, are ignorant to many of life's dilemmas, this quote reflects on our attempts to solve these dilemmas, often times resulting only in more problems. However, the above quote positively reflects that this confusion, "on a higher level", does indeed bring us just a little bit closer to the answers as we merely attempt to answer our questions. It is important to realize that in answering "Yes" to the fundamental option (See Above,) we agree that, because our existence has meaning, it is important to at least attempt to solve our problems and answer questions that arise about our existence. Just as the fundamental option requires faith to answer "YES," we sacrifice our efforts as we place faith that, in answering these questions, we wil become more aware of the meaning of existence.
Images of Key Ideas:
Question to think about:
On thinking of Faith in this section, I began to think of the hope and faith people place in goals and dreams that they set for themselves. This brought up the following question: Since one sets a goal or dream for oneself in order to strive for what one believes to be an ideal happiness for his or herself, should one surrender that goal if complete happiness is found in another form in the process of working towards the original goal?
My attempt at answering from personal experience:
Since goals are intentionally set for an attempt at true happiness(perhaps in a certain area of life), if true happiness is acquired in the process of attaining your original dream, then you merely accomplished your goal sooner than expected and in an unexpected way. For instance, goals all begin as beliefs. They are the beliefs at the given time that a certain thing will make you happy. Therefore, just a beliefs change over time, goals might too, and although you may have worked hard for a long time to attain your dream from a past moment, once you reach that point of success, it might not bring you happiness. Therefore, if happiness is found in the process, the question must be asked "If I were to acquire my original dream, would it make me any happier?" Decisions at this point must be based on this question.
..While this might be a little off topic of the subject of faith, this section on faith truly sparked this question in my mind and helped me develop my answer.
