"What most religious people call faith is in reality doubt.
Real Faith is not a belief.
A belief is a doubt. It would be impossible to hold one without also holding the other. Two halves of one coin.
If you have real faith you don't need belief. In fact, the depths of ones Faith can be measured in direct proportion to that individuals lack of beliefs. . . . . . .and the majority of people who claim a religious faith have that completely upside down the majority of the time.
Good scientists have far more Faith then most religious people do.
A good scientists will say, "my mind is open to the truth, whatever the truth turns out to be. And, I may have a hypothesis in mind as to what the truth may be, and I am going to test it."
That is true Faith.
Faith is also trusting yourself to water. . . learning to surf is an act of Faith. Swimming can be an act of Faith. . . .to stay afloat you have to learn to relax, to let go, and not to cling or hold tight. If you hold tight, if you cling, you will drown.
A person who is a fanatic in religion, who believes certain concepts, dogma, or belief systems about the universe and the idea of God, and who clings tight and holds strong to those concepts. . .that person is NOT a person of Faith.
In fact they hold no Faith at all.
That clinging and holding tight IS the dominant religious worlds actual definition of Faith. . . . and it is of course, totally backwards.
Faith is not clinging. Faith IS openness.
Faith is not holding tight. Faith IS letting go.
The trust in God, or an absolute reality, that one cannot conceive of in any way. . .is a far higher form of Faith than fervent clinging to a god or reality of which you have a definite conception of.
The Buddhist word Nirvana actually means to 'breathe out'. . .letting GO is the actual manifestation of true Faith."
