The Aroma of the Eclectic Soup

For the past few days a soup has been simmering inside my mind, an eclectic mixture of Objectivism, Laissez Faire Capitalism and Libertarian Socialism. No to mention the anarchist inclinations that makes me take an anti establishment stand. The aroma that arose from that pot was both tantalizing and invigorating. It led to one of those phases in life when one questions everything that is internal, values, attitude, ethics, philosophy and Faith.   

But, can faith be questioned? Is it not placed on the pedestal of untouchable sanctity?  The answer that emerged after a prolonged strife is that yes for the former and no for the later. Whoever says that faith is unquestionable is wrong, no two ways about it.  Faith has to be questioned time and again. It is only after going through the furnace of questions do beliefs transform into faith and that why, beliefs can be superstitious but faith never. The more we doubt and interrogate the more pristine it becomes. Actually is the same spirit of questioning hailed by the Upanishads which say never accept anything without questioning.

If our entire value system and hence our outlook is a manifestation of faith can we keep rattling the foundation by constant cross examination, will it not create instability? No, again. A successful entity (being or organization, anything that is capable of interaction) should be dynamic and agile.   Agility is survival. So the more you keep your foundations updated the more free you become. Rigidity can indicate only one thing, an imminent rigor mortis. In fact human evolution, which beyond doubts is much more than physiological, can be summed up as below according to me:

We believed -> We trusted -> We began to have faith

Now, one should not give in to the misconception of seeing faith and religion interchangeably. Here faith is not treated as a religion but it deals with faith as ability, faith as a virtue of human mind, as an infallible weapon in the evolutionary arms race acquired and nurtured by generations of contemplation. Again at this juncture we have to clarify that faith is not hope. Hope is pinning up expectations of something positive. But faith is being positive about an outcome or the lack of it, which could be positive or negative or neutral. It is that conviction which rejects or accepts things with absolute surety. It is that current that has shattered, rebuilt, stripped and dressed up humanity through the ages.

Like all universal truths the crescendo of this stream of thought arrived at an unexpected moment in the temple of Dubai amidst subdued exuberance. A dull blow from a conch shell and hundreds of people clapping in a small, cramped place of worship; conveyed to me, how people refuse to let go of what that they have chosen to accept. They brave, they fight, they submit, they lay dormant like a virus for eons waiting for an opportune moment to resurface. That’s when I realized that we are not faithful because of religion but on the contrary religions exist because we are capable of faith.