Quotes and Wisdom
from the Top of the Mind™
from the Top of the Mind™
Faith
"When you come to the edge of all you know,
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,
Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on
or you will be taught how to fly."
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,
Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on
or you will be taught how to fly."
I have seen this quote in several forms, the most meaningful being a framed drawing of a bird and these words, given to me by a client. This gift is on display in my office as a reminder of the power of faith.
In order to truly understand this power, however, I believe that it is important to also understand that power of faith can be used in both positive and negative ways. In other words, while the word "faith" is generally paired with the positive (faith in God, etc.), it is actually a statement of belief of what is and what will be.
For example, when we believe that "no matter what we do, we will never be happy," this is a statement of belief/faith and thus suggests that we should stop looking for happiness. When we tell our children (or ourselves) that people can't do what they love and still create a successful life, this is a statement of belief/faith and suggests that they should just settle for something that pays the bills. When we worry, or spend our present moments in fear of bad things happening in the future, this is also a statement of belief/faith in the value and validity of worry and fear, and therefore reinforces our tendency to conjure up images of bad things happening in order to keep them from coming to pass. Bottom line, while faith seems to be about the future, it has a tremendous impact on how we feel and what we do in the present.
For example, notice what is happening in the quote. Someone is making a present moment decision about what to do. The gist of this message is about the value of taking the step into the unknown versus shrinking back to the "safety" of the familiar. This distinction is important because there are those people who use their professed belief in "faith" to avoid trying new things and/or to avoid taking responsibility for their behavior in the present. For example, we all know people who say "I need do nothing now, I will just 'have faith' that everything will work out!" What this really speaks to is their faith in doing nothing (which is probably a reflection of their fear of doing the "wrong thing" and, thus, becomes a statement about their faith in fear).
This reminds me of a story of a man caught in a flood. The water was rising into his house and a man in an SUV pulled up and encouraged him to jump in. The man in the house refused, however, saying "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." The water continued to rise until it was at his second story window, and several people in a boat came by and called for him to climb aboard to safety. The man in the house refused, however, saying: "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." The water rose higher until it was up to his roof and a helicopter pilot swooped down and dropped a ladder telling the man that this was his last chance to be saved. The man on the roof refused, however, saying "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." Finally, the flood water engulfed his house completely and the man drowned. When he got to heaven, he was confused and upset, and he asked God, "Why didn't you save me, my faith was so strong, and yet you did nothing!" And God said, "Yes, I must admit, I am somewhat confused myself, I sent you an SUV, a boat and a helicopter, I don't understand what happened":-)
You see, faith is really what we use to guide our behavior in the present based upon some belief about ourselves and the world around us. We can have faith in fear and try to use worry and images of bad things happening to motivate our present behavior, or we can create an image of who we want to be (how we want to define ourselves in the present) and begin to take the steps necessary to bring this self-definition to life. Given this new definition of faith, maybe another version of this week's quote could be: "When we come to the edge of all we know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, our faith in our ability to define ourselves "on purpose" will give us something solid to stand on, and maybe even teach us how to fly."
In order to truly understand this power, however, I believe that it is important to also understand that power of faith can be used in both positive and negative ways. In other words, while the word "faith" is generally paired with the positive (faith in God, etc.), it is actually a statement of belief of what is and what will be.
For example, when we believe that "no matter what we do, we will never be happy," this is a statement of belief/faith and thus suggests that we should stop looking for happiness. When we tell our children (or ourselves) that people can't do what they love and still create a successful life, this is a statement of belief/faith and suggests that they should just settle for something that pays the bills. When we worry, or spend our present moments in fear of bad things happening in the future, this is also a statement of belief/faith in the value and validity of worry and fear, and therefore reinforces our tendency to conjure up images of bad things happening in order to keep them from coming to pass. Bottom line, while faith seems to be about the future, it has a tremendous impact on how we feel and what we do in the present.
For example, notice what is happening in the quote. Someone is making a present moment decision about what to do. The gist of this message is about the value of taking the step into the unknown versus shrinking back to the "safety" of the familiar. This distinction is important because there are those people who use their professed belief in "faith" to avoid trying new things and/or to avoid taking responsibility for their behavior in the present. For example, we all know people who say "I need do nothing now, I will just 'have faith' that everything will work out!" What this really speaks to is their faith in doing nothing (which is probably a reflection of their fear of doing the "wrong thing" and, thus, becomes a statement about their faith in fear).
This reminds me of a story of a man caught in a flood. The water was rising into his house and a man in an SUV pulled up and encouraged him to jump in. The man in the house refused, however, saying "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." The water continued to rise until it was at his second story window, and several people in a boat came by and called for him to climb aboard to safety. The man in the house refused, however, saying: "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." The water rose higher until it was up to his roof and a helicopter pilot swooped down and dropped a ladder telling the man that this was his last chance to be saved. The man on the roof refused, however, saying "No, I have faith in God, and God will save me." Finally, the flood water engulfed his house completely and the man drowned. When he got to heaven, he was confused and upset, and he asked God, "Why didn't you save me, my faith was so strong, and yet you did nothing!" And God said, "Yes, I must admit, I am somewhat confused myself, I sent you an SUV, a boat and a helicopter, I don't understand what happened":-)
You see, faith is really what we use to guide our behavior in the present based upon some belief about ourselves and the world around us. We can have faith in fear and try to use worry and images of bad things happening to motivate our present behavior, or we can create an image of who we want to be (how we want to define ourselves in the present) and begin to take the steps necessary to bring this self-definition to life. Given this new definition of faith, maybe another version of this week's quote could be: "When we come to the edge of all we know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, our faith in our ability to define ourselves "on purpose" will give us something solid to stand on, and maybe even teach us how to fly."
Take care and God bless, Dr. Bill