Nov 14
27
The Matter of Faith
The following is an excerpt from: “EMBRACING the UNFORESEEN Improvisation in life and faith” By Dennis Plies.
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Begin excerpt.
The matter of “faith” raises a whole range of questions. Does faith always have to be religious? Does it excite only spiritual outcomes—religion, church, or God? Does it have to mean the opposite of reason? Admittedly this word has many emotional associations and many strong connections emerge, directly and indirectly, because of those connotations and because it is thrown around so freely and loosely.
It can have limited, even parochial meanings—and, although more rarely applied, it can also have a more universal application. While I am comfortable using it in its “religious” sense, I am not constrained by that restriction. I maintain that everyone has faith in something or someone that generates a sense of meaning and purpose.
This book, then, is a means toward an end. I want to talk about faith in the context of my experience, not because my story is important in itself but rather because it is a way for dialogue between you, the reader, and me. I hope that in that dialogue we will both begin to define, develop, and appreciate more fully the journey we are on.
Because faith involves loyalty and love, it can be experienced by all who can express loyalty and love relationally. If, for example, faith means being true to someone, faith becomes much more universally positive and interpersonal; it is removed from the ideological and political realm.
Even though this chapter may strike you as religious, my intent is to be neither persuasive nor pushy. While I am honestly passionate and direct about this exploration, I want simply to narrate my own faith story in a way that explicitly encourages you to reflect on your own journey. My journey happens to be expressed most meaningfully spiritually, so in order for me to be authentic it is with that voice I must write. I want only to invite and encourage. All of us have faith in the other/others/Other who help us construct meaning and develop purpose in life.
Practicing faith doesn't always require extraordinary circumstances.
I realize that I initially identified and practiced faith knowingly through what is traditionally considered a “religious” experience. In fact, I am practicing faith all through the day in manners and matters that many would not consider religious. When I exercise, eat, sleep, travel, read, socialize, experience aesthetic events, and in general determine how I spend time and money, I am applying faith, something beyond belief. If I choose selected exercises, it’s because I have faith that they would be enjoyable or worthwhile. When I settle on where to go for a travel experience, in what am I applying faith: the travel agent, my own research, hearsay from others, advertisements? All of these examples have relational elements built in via either persons or other media. Aware of faith applied constantly, my choice is to share my spiritual pilgrimage, for in it I can best represent my understanding of faith and its ubiquitous nature to all of life.
Realizing that we do not concoct our faith journey, but rather it develops naturally, we can reflect on and own what has transpired. In retrospect, we can see that there were times when we acted without reason or evidence, times when we experienced the mystery of existence as part of the process. Looking back, we can see how the parts fit together into the whole, a whole we could not perceive at the time. We understand now what we could not fathom then. Faith has to do with what the mind can-not grasp. Faith is beyond understanding. From the New Testament we learn that “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Can our eyes show us one thing but our mind see another?
Our daily experience reveals to us that we live in a world of opposites, of tensions. We want to lose weight, but we love that dessert. We know we need to get that task done, but we find the television calling to us. We know that a used minivan would suit our family needs perfectly, but find ourselves buying the sports car. We discover that part of us functions at the level of reason, and part of us functions at another level.
But there is another duality that is just as real as the reason/emotion split. There is the world of perceived reality, and there is also the world of an unseen existence. We see the flower, but unseen to us are the atoms that form it, though we know those atoms are there somehow. We see the violence of rebellions and wars, but we don’t see the emotional, psycho-logical, and spiritual factors involved.
What we are experiencing, I think, is the conundrum of human experience, the interweaving of our physical and non-physical natures. We find that the reason and the senses can deal with only one part of that reality; something beyond them is needed to grasp the other—the spiritual or non-physical—world we inhabit.
Do you decide or just roll the dice?
This duality shapes much of my consideration of what I will present as my relational faith journey. Not based on reasons, my faith in God has to do with an inner awareness of divinity. I find that faith is first em-bodied non-intellectually. I have found faith to be meaningful within my awareness of God, which looks much different than a constant struggle with God. Daniel Taylor goes another step: “Faith, however, is not a matter of rolling the dice. It is, or can be, a conscious expression of a great gift—human freedom. God has given us all the ability to either choose or reject a relationship with Him.” Here is my story of meaning and fulfillment with the hope that you will reflect seriously on your story.
End excerpt.
Dennis Plies has been a professor of music at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, for more than thirty-five years. He has taught aural skills and piano, directed jazz ensembles, and taught a popular humanities course. Dr Plies defines himself with six words; “friend, teacher, musician, writer, thinker, improviser.” Dennis can be reached at: dennisplies@gmail.com
You can purchase EMBRACING the UNFORESEEN Improvisation in life and faith by clicking here: Click Now.