Faith

A tightrope walker could perform his feat with his assistant sitting on his shoulder. An impressed audience would give him a thunderous applause. Before doing it again he would ask them whether they believed that he could do it again. The crowd would respond with, ‘Yes, we believe that you can!’ Then, he would ask, ‘Now, who wants to volunteer to get on my shoulder?’

The crowd would turn silent.

 It was obvious that the crowd had the ‘belief’ in the acrobat’s capability. They had seen him do it again and again. But they did not have enough ‘faith’ to rely on his ability. Hence the reluctance to act as per their own stated belief. It is pertinent to note that faith is not a logical conclusion of belief, at all times. If the belief is superficial, the faith will be shaky.

Consider a deeply religious person who says he believes that God does not play dice with human lives and the same person falls prey to dread of astrology and other superstitions. Consider a self-proclaimed patriot who circumvents the law of his country. Or consider a scientist who prostrates before a God-man despite knowing that the latter’s miracles have easy explanations.

Education and experience create a set of principles in us which we consider to be our beliefs. It is easy to state our beliefs without having any real faith. Faith is reflected only if it is seen in our actions. The test is easy… if we can be better at convertinge our own stated belief into consistent action, then it can be certified as true faith. Otherwise, that belief is just a blank expression.

What we describe as belief is just an expression

Faith requires us to be better at aligned action!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.