The 3 Aspects of Faith
Do you know what it means to believe in something that your senses can't perceive? These are the three aspects of faith.
There is a concept called faith that many people aren't familiar with because modern life affords them with a base level of creature comforts (particularly in the Western world). Many people have four walls, a floor and a roof protecting them from the elements. They have at least one meal they can look forward to, even if it's meager.
There are a lot of people who can depend on some level of support from their government in the form of money, food, housing, and healthcare if times get rough. Not all people are thriving, but most are surviving. Many aren't currently facing a true existential crisis as they have never been put in a completely hopeless position (though they may complain about how unfair life is, not realizing how good they actually have it).
However, there are some people who have suffered great loss and have had everything taken away from them (or never had anything to begin with). They don't have secure shelter, a reliable next meal, or even a few coins to spare. Or perhaps they have dealt with deeply traumatic situations that have stripped them of their resiliency.
The people who experience this exercise the purest example of what it means to have faith. Because in the face of utter helplessness they are hopeful and still live to see another day.
What are the 3 aspects of faith?
It is difficult to know what faith is when you have a security net in place. As faith requires belief when tangible options or opportunities are absent. Faith is hope in an immaterial idea or vision that has no clear path of attainment. It's feeling utterly helpless but being totally hopeful that someway, somehow things will work out in your favor.
Of course, the ability to have faith is not reserved for people who are homeless or penniless. This is just an illustration of how modern life comes with many privileges for the masses, making the need for faith a rather foreign construct.
However, anyone can have faith so long as the criteria for faith is present despite the challenge(s) they face. Faith requires three aspects:
You know what you want or need
You see absolutely no way of getting it
You still hope that a way will appear
Do you know what you want?
People with no reliable means of survival make great examples of faith practitioners because they survive off of pure hope. They have a clearly defined need (eg. food, shelter or money) but no visible means of obtaining them. So they must have hope that, at least on some days, they'll find scraps of food, a place to lie their head, or some kind soul who will provide.
However, you may not be struggling to survive or have a life-threatening need. So luckily faith, in your case, only has to be exercised for your wants. But do you know exactly what you want? Do you have a desire so deeply held that it actually feels life-threatening to be void of it?
When you have your basic needs met it is quite easy to float through life without any other higher pursuits. But there are some who don't just want to survive, they desperately seek to thrive. And they have a vision for their best life that feels just as critical to them as food, water and shelter. If that sounds like you, then it means you have passionate pursuits and meet the first criteria of faith.
Do you see no way of getting it?
Observing wild animals, especially those in difficult terrain, also helps paint a good picture of faith in action. They consistently go out to hunt for food without any promise that they'll find it. And indeed, for many animals in certain parts of the world, most hunts end in failure. Yet, they try and try again even in the face of barren lands and shallow waters.
When you have no reliable means or methods for obtaining what you desperately desire that is where faith kicks in. Again, most people have options, opportunities and systems of support that aid them in achieving their goals. That's because most people's pursuits aren't that passionate, but rather ubiquitous desires that fit squarely into societal norms.
Wants that work neatly within mass expectations, already have pre-defined paths. It is typically those that pursue the uncharted, go off the beaten path, or push against the grain that truly understand what it means to want something that seems impossible to obtain. If you see no immediate way of actually getting what you deeply desire, but are still intent on having it, then you meet the second criteria for faith.
Do you hope a way will appear?
People with impossible pursuits can't depend on pre-defined routes. This means they must resort to building the path they walk along as they go, not knowing exactly where it will lead. It takes an extraordinary amount of hope to believe in something that can't be seen, and to pursue it with no compass and no guarantee of success.
It requires that you step completely out of your comfort zone, turn your back on all those who choose the frequently traveled path, and plunge yourself into the wilderness. In the wilderness there is chaos, confusion and uncertainty. There are no rules, and therefore no guidebooks. Every step you take is based off intuition and 100% of your own accord.
The risks are high and your chances of success are slim, which is why you journey alone. Most people you know would never give up their creature comforts to embark on what appears to be a suicide mission. If you are crazy enough to pursue your true and passionate desires, despite the utter lack of tangible evidence that they can be achieved, then you meet the third criteria of faith.
I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith. — Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
There are those whose lot in life leave them with no choice but to embody the three aspects of faith in order to survive. Then there are those who are fortunate enough to be surviving, but believe life is not worth living if they never experience what it feels like to dream big.
Not everyone is forced to have faith. Not everyone needs to have faith. But there can be no individual or collective evolution without faith in impossible ideas that defy the limitations of reality. So the world is better off with at least a few brave souls who are crazy and courageous enough to believe they can make something out of nothing.
