The Surprising Benefits of Believing In a Higher Power
What science says about faith
Where do you find peace when you feel disillusioned by the chaos of today’s world?
The economy is at a standstill. Unemployment is on the rise. The future seems more and more uncertain at this pivotal point in history. It’s easy to get swept away in the currents of fear and end up adrift on an ocean of anxiety.
If you have no foundation to stand on, you will feel hopeless and helpless in a cruel and merciless world. But it doesn’t need to be that way.
For thousands of years, faith and religion served as buffers against this existential angst. Its slow removal from the center of culture has arguably caused more problems than it has solved. When Nietzsche declared “God is dead,” he wasn’t celebrating the literal death of a deity or religion. He was — in essence — mourning the loss of the guiding light of Western Civilization.
When asked to define faith in a recent interview on The Tim Ferris Show, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks gave a surprising response:
“The ability to hear the music beneath the noise.”
To illustrate, Rabbi Sacks recounts a conversation he had with his friend and “pretty angry atheist,” Richard Dawkins.
