Clearly you must have faith in something no matter what your intention may be however this “faith” need not be of a religious nature. Many people have a matter of fact sense about the realities of life. They do not give much thought to the ultimate meaning of life or existential searching. They simply do what needs to be done, knowing intuitively that if one does what needs to be done, that things turn out the way they are supposed to. This exercise in surrender is faith in action.
I believe that it is important to discuss the concept of blind faith. When discussing the idea of faith, blind faith refers to a belief in something that has no evidence of any kind to support it. There is a difference between blind faith, e.g. walking off a cliff without a safety net because someone tells you to, and a faith that is based on some evidence, though not completely and directly supportable by logic or science.
We all create or seek out evidence to give our faith greater credence. At times there will be some evidence, some incomplete historical or empirical information that indicates that some event is likely to happen, or that something exists that cannot be presently seen. Was there a Moses and did he ascend Mt. Sinai? Who can say for sure? This is the biblical tale: There is a Mt. Sinai, so there is a chance that there was a prophet named Moses, and this man named Moses climbed this mountain and had a vision when he reached the top. To believe this story is to have faith, but it is not blind faith.
There are few events in life that require that we act blindly and without any evidence as to whether a choice is wise or not. As a counter to any form of “blind faith,” it’s useful to create a daily practice of investigating any idea or teaching that grabs our attention. In time we may learn to live by what is learned. This will protect us from the dilemma of needing to believe in something outright.
When we have a general religious faith or a spiritual belief, this is generally blind faith. This type of faith is also known as implicit faith. Many of both the religious and non-religious criticize implicit faith as being irrational and ignoring reality. “How,” they ask “can you believe in something with no evidence?” After all, much of what passes for faith is illogical and irrational. In fact, much of what the most logical among us do can be seen as illogical and irrational. So if faith is belief without evidence, the question is, does it necessarily degrade our understanding of natural law? It might, by allowing anyone to make a claim about reality that is based solely off his or her distorted perceptions and personal ideas.
There is no perfect way to transcend this problem One might claim that to avoid slavery to faith, we must test everything we believe. One might then test and review the evidence. The strictest standards of logic require that our beliefs and the evidence we base these beliefs on be scientifically verifiable.
Of course to do this one must go back to the question of what reality is. But can any of us claim a universally accepted definition of what reality is? Fortunately, or unfortunately, such a definition does not exist.
Can we ever link our faith to our reality? The greater our awareness and consciousness of things, the clearer it becomes that we create whatever reality we need in order to survive.
So if logic and rational thinking defines what we might or might not have faith in, it will be quite difficult to put faith into an idea with very little evidence to support it. Bertrand Russell, the Nobel prize winning mathematician, noted that no one speaks of faith in the existence of such entities as gravity or electricity. He repeatedly pointed out that arguing for the validity of faith only occurs when evidence or logic fails.
For one on the Wisdom Path, there is a way for faith and reason to co-exist. One can, if one wishes to, choose a way of living in which faith and reason co-exists in a complementary manner. If one can do this, we may merge an understanding of nature, law, and of what we perceive to be spiritual.