Existence takes Faith

What is faith? Most would interpret it in a religious sense or spiritual belief that one holds to. But what does it truly mean? When did such a strong word become linked to just the spiritual or devout? To understand what faith is, one must look up the definition. If you asked a Christian, they would spout off the Biblical answer,

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

But what is that in layman's term, those who weren't raised in church? The dictionary will tell you,

"Faith is confidence or trust in a person or a thing, loyalty or fidelity in a person, promise, engagement etc."

If you break it down even further, faith simply means trust. An example of this faith would this: If you are on a plane, you have complete faith in the pilot to fly you safely to your destination. As well, you have utter faith in the airplane to stay in the sky, faith in the oxygen masks to fall down in case of emergencies, the doors to open for you to escape, and so on and so forth.

Everyone possesses faith in some form. Religiously, yes, Faith is important. But what about scientifically? Does it not take faith to believe in Evolution? Doesn't it take faith to believe that gravity is real? We have faith in our scientists to tell us what they have discovered, tested, and proved. We have faith in our teachers to show us the truth and help us learn the facts. The ultimate faith is the faith we have in the Earth itself to stick to its orbit and not go flying into space, or the faith that Sun will not burn us to a crisp.

In the world, we have to have faith in other people. Trust in the grocer to sell us good food, faith in the barber to not cut all our hair off, hope that the driver in the other lane won't swerve and run us off the road. The faith that we have in our friends, the trust we put in them when we go out, or in our coworkers to get things done correctly at work. Complete trust that the police will keep you safe or the firemen will be available the moment a fire breaks out.

What about faith within our own homes? We have faith that our house won't fall in on us, our beds to stay beneath us as we sleep, our chairs to hold us up. We have faith in our family to love and care for us or trust that they will not harm us. The examples go on and on. Faith is the substance of our existence. We could not survive without faith. Faith is believing, hoping, trusting in things that can't be seen.

This being said, faith can easily be broken or even misguided. Faith can be a bad thing as well as a good thing. We could put faith in the wrong people or put trust in bad investments. Faith can be put in a cult or manipulated by evil leaders. We can't live in fear but we need to question our faith sometimes. Are we trusting the right ideas or morals? Putting faith in the right religion or business? The misplaced trust of children in their abusive parents, misguided faith of a battered wife in her husband that always says it will never happen again, the hope of a divided country in empty promises of an elected official.

We are taught as children to never talk to strangers, or get in an unknown person's vehicle. As adults we are taught to be aware of our surroundings and mistrust everyone. In school, we are taught to trust our teachers and obey our parents. In our career, we are instructed to respect our boss and work hard and mind your own business. All of this teaches us what our faith is in. Each person has their own faith, their own belief in something or someone. Whether a god, a political party, a career, a family member, etc, whatever it is, every person holds to their own faith, a faith that is developed through their life, through their experiences.

Existence takes faith.