I have one question

soccerfreaks said:

"I'm glad to be an American"
(Lee Greenwood reference)

Perhaps it is just a matter of semantics, but I would advise that faith is not about 'choice'. Theologians, philosophers, priests, preachers, rabbis, swamis, shamans, in whatever dialect they use, they generally refer to a LEAP of faith, that is, jumping from the rational to the irrational, accepting something beyond that which can be proven scientifically. They do not, among those I have talked to over the years, (and there have been many, of many faiths), imply that I could CHOOSE to make that leap. Not, that is, and remain honest to myself. No, rather, they seem to understand that it is a most wonderful or tragic element of the human condition, and that we can only come to it, to faith, through this so-called leap. We cannot simply wake up one morning and decide that we have chosen to believe.

That would be a lie.

Perhaps it is just a matter of semantics.

Take care,

Joe

Interesting
I hadn't thought about it in that context, but I remember when I came to believe in spirit for the first time. I had been ruminating about "religious" as well as spiritual beliefs for a long while, and in between my reasoned ideas there emerged very silently inside me a constellation of ideas that had no outlet until one day, as I stood alongside a woman at work talking of her religion. I immediately knew that she was describing an understanding that had crept up on me over that time. I asked her what was her religion. She said Spiriitualist. For years, I attended the Spiritualist church but, like so many nowadays, I've moved away from church-driven activity and gone more inside myself to find a somehow more truly personal form of spirtuality, that allows me to look outside the box, to embrace whatever I find attractive in other beliefs - in my case they would especially include atheism and Zen.

It's true. I hadn't *chosen* to believe in Spiritualism. It seemed to emerge within me and only when I asked someone else what it was called did I give it a name. Then I didn't need the name - at least not the "ism" part - and my path feels more whole for that.

I do believe that spirituality and reason don't need to conflict - if one accepts that spirituality exists outside the realm of reason. I believe in Darwinian evolution, and I believe in spiritual evolution as well, and I don't think that one trespasses on the other. I think we make the biggest mistakes when we think that we have to justify what we believe based, if not on faith, then certainly on a different type of reasoning (emotional reasoning?), by using a type of reasoning that suits a different type of problem - such as semantic or political.

Not sure if I just got carried away with that, but it will have to stay now

AussieMaddie