Faith or Logic?

Faith and logic are two extremes of human understanding. One makes you believe something and the other makes you question the same. People of logic do not have faith and people of faith do not apply logic.

Why logic is important?

Everything happens for a reason. Every action is a result of a thought or another action. The world wouldn’t exist without that. Everything can be understood and explained by reasoning. In fact, every action would be more meaningful when performed with valid reasoning. It doesn’t make sense to do anything that doesn’t logically make sense.

When you do not know the reason behind your actions, you are not under your control. Do you like to be controlled by someone or something other than you?

“From the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man — the function of his reasoning mind” — Ayn Rand

Why faith is important?

Would you travel on a bus without having faith that the driver takes you to the destination safely? Would you be able to walk on the road with fear of a vehicle crushing you?

Faith is needed in every walk of life. Having faith in yourself will make you confident. Having faith in the family will give you peace of mind. Having faith in God will give you everything.

Faith does wonders. It cures illness. It gives peace of mind. Everyone wants to fall back on someone in difficult times. Falling back may not solve the problem but gives the confidence to confront the situation.

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.” - Alan Watts

In difficult times, strong people rely on themselves and people who are not confident enough will depend on others. When no one turns out with help, they turn towards God. There is nothing wrong to entrust God. You only have to realize that God has gifted you enough potential to solve most of the problems yourself. Seek help from God only when you have tried all possible ways and are not left with any more solutions for your problem.

This doesn’t mean faith is the last option to perceive. In fact, it all starts from having faith in yourself and believing that you will be able to address the problem yourself.

An infant relies on its mother for everything. We can’t always be infants. We want to stand on our feet when we grow. In the same lines, taking responsibility on the self will give us enough courage to fight the problem and come out with a solution. Fight the problem and leave the results to God. This gives us the ability to solve the problem ourselves and at the same time gives us peace of mind.

There is a difference between faith and belief. A belief is something that you believe and understand as truth. Faith is having trust in this belief. So, it’s very crucial to have the right beliefs. That’s possible only when you introspect the beliefs and perspectives regularly and correct them for the betterment of everyone.

No one would like to admit that their beliefs could be wrong. The beliefs are so rooted that they become unconscious habits and drive the people in those directions without their knowledge. When a belief is far from the truth, having strong faith in that belief is not only foolish, it is also hazardous.

Most of our beliefs are originated from the family, society and religion. Some of them are cultivated with experience. No matter where the beliefs are originated from, there are high chances that they need to be corrected.

The preliminary step is to make yourself flexible enough to accept that your beliefs could be incorrect. Once you are able to do this, apply reasoning and introspect your beliefs to find out if they are authentic.

Question your beliefs regularly to validate their authenticity. There may be many beliefs that you may not find a valid reason. Those beliefs are NOT invalid if you cannot determine the reason. Correct only those beliefs that you find illogical. Continue evaluating if you cannot determine the reason.

The logic you choose to question your belief should be valid as well. The purpose of questioning is not to doubt the belief but to learn more from it without being judgemental. It’s to make your belief stronger if it turns out to be valid.

Every belief and understanding cannot be questioned. There are many in this world which science is not able to define and quantify. That doesn’t mean they are invalid. Yesterday’s science would have stated something that is changed today with further research. Science is based on the observations made during the research. These observations can change depending on many factors.

Anything that changes is not the truth. Trikala Badhyam Sathyam, meaning Truth is that which is unchanged in three times — past, present and future.

Questioning everything is like questioning the digestive system while eating. You don’t have to know everything about the digestion. Just know the basics to ensure that you don’t get into any sort of digestive disorders. When the question turns just to doubt, there is no learning from it.

Faith and Logic shouldn’t be the extremes of understanding. They should go hand-in-hand and complement each other. Logic without faith just turns into an argument. Faith without logic turns into superstition. Balance them out for a happy and purposeful living.

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