Doubt, Belief, and Faith, these are the root of controversy in all religions. Not long ago there were just two ways to authenticate spirituality: personal experience and faith. With faith the people just took the word of the spiritual authorities, a book or a person and accepted what they said, for if they said something it must be true. However, books and teachers can be totally wrong. This type of untested faith (proof by authority) could lead to disaster. The third approach is now possible by testing these claims by ourselves producing “tested faith.”
There is a big difference between Belief and Faith. Faith and belief are frequently used synonymously and therefore not always used properly. Faith is significantly more than just belief. There is a destructive and a constructive element in belief as is doubt. Constructively applied, being faithful to solid beliefs leads to self-realization. The spiritual master who has attained realization says to the undeveloped student or disciple, “believe and follow me, until you are capable of understanding.” This doesn’t mean unreasoning acceptance. Belief when constructive has reason inside it. Feeling and reason substantiate there is some truth behind all compelling beliefs.
A Deeper Explanation Of the Above
What is belief? It’s a state of mind or habit in where assurance, confidence and trust is placed in a thing, individual or set of guidelines or testament; such as influencing the reality of religious beliefs. Belief is a feeling or strong conviction of the reality or truth of the thing to be believed. The components of belief are reliance, conviction, assent, assurance, faith and credence. However faith and belief differ primarily in that belief as a principle implies just barely more than speculative acceptance, whereas faith suggests complete assurance or trust, whose belief or conviction has evolved into faith. A person cannot believe without eagerness. Belief involves imagination since it is an uncertain anticipating the hope of obtaining a result.
To believe in a false doctrine, a failing business or a deceitful person is a misuse of one’s worthy efforts through a mistaken path. Such ill-advised beliefs attain slightly more than unpleasant involvements. Sooner or later a doomed business or a hypocritical friend loses our belief with the revelation of true facts.
Any flawed or suspicious belief evolves if held to without investigation into fanatical dogmatism and when it’s disproved it changes back from dogmatism to disbelief and rejection. In contrast, if one persistently follows a true doctrine, that conviction steadily develops into certainty and faith. We see belief whether true or false can only be temporary and provisional for it is always transformed either into disbelief, dogmatism, or into faith.
Immature or rudimentary beliefs unsecured in facts and truthfulness is belief manifested in sentimentality or emotion and starts with overblown “faith” as “unto death I will follow you.” But when tested with contradiction or criticism it ends in heated condemnation. Some followers assign stubbornness to blind belief. You see them living or dying in the same type of emotional convictions, even if completely erroneous. This state of existence controlled by superstition is no better than existing as a savage barbarian.
Unless belief is established in truth, the conviction that creates development toward faith will never be sustained. If there is truth inherent in a person’s sincere belief, faith will manifest itself. There are many examples of one’s sincere convictions, such as trust in medicine, a person, doctrine or thing, faith in God, religious beliefs, scriptural teachings and narratives.
Doctrines or educators urge us to have faith and believe, while giving negligible clarification or insight. In regard to spiritual matters our viewpoint sometimes is visionary and vague. The general rule is blind acceptance. Therefore, faith and belief in relation to spiritual and religious life are little realized because matters of the spirit are believed supernatural and outside human understanding.
Faith is the power that reveals the outworking of spiritual laws that lie beneath all supposed miracles and the substance of things prayed for. Impossibilities can be realized in the face of all odds. Faith unlike belief does not harbor any destructive elements, it is realization in itself. Belief can be destroyed or persuaded by opposing evidence. From the teachings of P. Yogananda.
