Finding Your Faith

Look to what you care about deeply that in no way concerns your self interest; there you will find your faith.

Now do not seek to understand this irreducible force within you; instead seek to live it and embody it fully.

You may find that it grows and that every day you stand upon firmer ground.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I really enjoyed this meditation. Louis has brought up some very important and interesting points that would be hard to disagree with.

I reflected awhile on the meaning of a phrase Louis used, that is, “caring deeply about” and especially on the adverb “deeply”. I realized how difficult it is to understand what exactly we care deeply about. It requires a very profound self-knowledge and self-awareness to be able to discover what we truly believe in. In my opinion, it requires a lifetime of searching, even if we have already partial answers to the questions of existence. Naturally, it should not be taken for granted that we already know what we truly believe in and who we truly are.

In my recently begun faith journey, I have found that a first step to self-knowledge involves distinguishing the dimension of depth with that of intensity in my emotional and intellectual life: I found the need to listen carefully to my self, to my thoughts and emotions and especially to the deep ones, however imperceptible they may be. I also found it necessary to acquire a keen awareness that even if I more readily identify with the intense emotions I experience, however superficial they may be, and even if such emotions seem to be more “me” compared with the faint voice of the deeper emotions, gaining true knowledge of my deeper, inmost self, involves listening to these rather elusive deep emotions which at times seem even foreign to myself.

Not only does careful attention to deeper thoughts and emotions lead to greater self-knowledge, but it is also the path to listening to the voice of God, whose meeting place with the soul is precisely in the deepest, inmost part of the soul. And it is there where one may find his or her faith.
January 02, 2008
Louis Merlin said…
"Depth" is one of those spiritual metaphors that points to something that may be difficult or impossible to clearly define. It is perhaps an intangible experience rather than a measurable characteristic, and is distinct from intensity, as rosmini rightly observes....

Thank you for this meditation and commentary.
January 20, 2008
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