First let’s try to define what faith means to me.
I believe in a supreme being or whatever the spirit energy that created all the millions of things can be called. When I think of God, I don’t picture the Zeus-like dude sending bolts of light out of the sky I was taught to worship in Sunday school. And I believe Jesus was a really awesome healer guru whose stories grew more phantasmagorical over thousands of years.
I had a very brief “born-again” period when I was 16. Until I figured out the only thing Jesus was saving was my need to belong—-and I really belonged somewhere with less hand flailing and guilt tripping. I needed friends who’d just do unto me like they should without continuous reminders from Corinthians 13, verses four through eight, or whatever.
Fifty years later, I’m working with a catch-all creed that borrows some good stuff from each religion and takes a New Age approach to ancient wisdom. I believe in the energy that moves through all things, and how I choose to tap into it makes a difference. I believe in Karma, the instant kind the Beatles sang about, and the kind that accumulates over years of bad or good behavior. I believe in science, in vaccines, in Reiki, acupuncture, and all that other natural healing woo-woo—-and how, when I listen to my body, and my trusted doctors, miracles can happen. I believe in yin and yang, in synchronicity, in moderating my moderation and, after decades of trial and error, in ice cream instead of alcohol. I believe in beagle Zen and if dogs could talk they’d explain everything. I believe in picking up—and putting my own special stamp on—where my parents left off. I believe people, myself especially, should stop asking “Why me?” when the real question is “Why not me?”
I have faith in myself, my family, my authentic friends, and the synergistic power of like-minded souls radiating their own inner peace. I still have much to learn about the faith in myself part, but have come to honor it as the foundation on which all other tenets must be built. But that’s okay. Because, as my wise healer friend says, when I do “figure it all out” I’ll probably have about seven seconds left to live since I’ll be vibrating into the next realm. Meanwhile, I’m strengthening my faith with the self-help that comes from simple, lakeside living, with meditation and recreation, with disconnecting and reconnecting to what really matters. And when I’m done, I have faith I’ll have been the best version of my own unique self on my journey toward enlightenment, a single bright spark in All That Is.