Faith
I want to write about faith
Faith
I want to write about faith, about the way the moon rises over cold snow, night after night, faithful even as it fades from fullness, slowly becoming that last curving and impossible sliver of light before the final darkness. But I have no faith myself I refuse it even the smallest entry. Let this then, my small poem, like a new moon, slender and barely open, be the first prayer that opens me to faith. -from David Whyte: Essentials. Originally published in Where Many Rivers Meet
Coming from an upbringing in a deeply religious community, but not being religious myself, I find so much solace and affirmation in words that speak to faith as a separate journey with our inner and outer nature. 🙏
I love the "faith" of the moon, as you have conveyed it here.
As a young adult, I was in awe of people I knew who lived on faith. I couldn't figure out how they did it, but I observed its results time and again. I longed to understand and possess that kind of faith.
Then, while undergoing my training to become a Waldorf teacher, I took a course in Goethean observation/Consciousness studies where I, through some trial and tribulation, came to understand the difference between "blind faith" and "authentic faith." I had no interest in the former while the latter took some work to obtain. That was the ticket, though. Not a wish or a hope, but an actual inner knowing that, in any circumstance, after any decision, that all will be well. It takes work and vigilance, observation of one's thinking. But also, a relationship to Spirit, to knowing that the spiritual world is there to help us. We just need to learn how to ask and remember to do so.
Thank you for this, David. I look forward to reading more as your faith journey progresses.
~ Camille