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Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.taoism,alt.philosophy.zen,talk.religion.buddhism
Subject: Re: FAITH
Date: 5 Feb 1996 18:51:33 -0800
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|>|what is faith?  

faith is the confidence in a force, person, discipline or idea

|>|what does one do with it?  

one abides it if one feels it.  too often we are exhorted to take up
 faith due to the paucity of the object which we are offered

|>|why does one need faith, 

when one wishes to start

|>|what should one have faith in? 

varies.  what should we eat for breakfast?  none of your business


|>the trustworthiness of others.
|this is faith?  

yes

|what am i trusting others for/to do/to be/to say(?) ?

be trustworthy, in the above example; live according to their word

|what does one do with this faith?  

offer it.  a gift

|>|what place does doubt have?

central, until over-ridden by emotive desire to trust, place faith.
 some things are more compelling than intellectual propositions

|>|can it wash windows?  will it walk the dog?  give peace?

yes, especially if you trust others to do these things for you

|>|!?!  "give ourselves over to faith"?

yes, in preparation to try out a new paradigm/discipline/etc.

|why?

because without it, we might undermine our ability to explore fruitfully.
 tentative faith is always better than permanent cynicism

|>who am i talking to anyway?  

yourself

|>...what else can we refer to but faith?  

data, personal reflection of experience, scientific analysis of disciplines

|doubt cannot paralyze us; ...

if it leads to fear, it can

|why look for excuses?  

if we don't like the way we are seeing things