What is Faith?
Faith is one of the most important influences on our well-being. How we process Faith is tantamount to how we feel spiritually, mentally, emotionally and even physically because when our Faith wavers, we suffer. In order to understand how Faith is configured in our lives, let’s define it more clearly.
Faith is more than a feeling; it is a state-of-being. It is a sacred principle, as are Truth, Trust and Love, with a broader influence on our lives than even our thoughts and feelings. Faith has little connection to religion. Many people call their religion their Faith, but the energy of Faith itself is without any religious affiliation. It has no doctrine or dictates. Most Faith-full people believe in a Divine Presence but not all of them. Some believe they are at all times Loved and supported by the Divine regardless of their choices. Some don’t. Faith is archetypal, and it is very personal.
One absolute statement we can make about Faith is that it fills our dreams and also keeps us moving forward through difficult times. It is what helps us celebrate achievements, and it is the strength that sustains us when all else fails.
Some Possible Definitions for Faith
Faith is a feeling that blankets us yet is not insistent or dictatorial.
Faith is a soft, warm sense of fulfillment that fills our lives
all the way to our physical-ness when we embody it.
Faith is felt when we practice peaceful acceptance of ourselves and others.
Faith is an absolutely unconditional Trust in What Is.
Faith allows us to Trust that everything and everyone in our lives
is of Divine Inspiration.
Faith is knowing that you are Loved and Divinely supported…always.
Faith is ever-present…but since it is unobtrusive, it allows us to reject it. There is no judgment or punishment levied by any Divine Presence if our Faith wavers. The consequences of our actions or inactions will create the challenges we alone will face.
What does it look like energetically when Faith wavers?
We have four energy bodies. They are the physical, mental, emotional and spirit bodies. The spirit body in its natural state is a perfectly formed energetic creation with a balanced internal and external tension which allows it to hold its structure.
The surface of the spirit body is completely permeable. Information flows easily into and out of its structure. Acceptance, inspiration and reverence are evident and stream seamlessly and endlessly between the inside and the outside.
The Divine within the spirit body is in absolute harmony and synch with the Divine that is outside of the spirit body.
(As we continue our study of Faith, incarnation and our relationship to a Divine Presence are discussed. It is not necessary for you to accept either of these concepts to understand how your Faith can waver and cause suffering in your life, but I suggest that you stay open to these possibilities. They can add understanding to what motivates you spiritually.)
Back to the beginning…
Oneness and the Impulse to Share
Love and Bliss blanket us while we are in Oneness. There is no “other.” There is only oneness and sameness. All souls here are in complete resonance with each other. The experience of this Love and Bliss is so ecstatic that the single soul begins to desire to share it with others who are not in a Blissful state. As soon as the impulse to share the Love and the Bliss with others is realized, the soul begins to pull out of the embrace of the Oneness. The impulse to share becomes a primal desire. This primal desire to share motivates the drive to be in relationship.
We can not be in relationship unless we are separate from the ecstasy felt in the lap of the Divine. The primal desire to share brings us into a unique incarnation where we can exist independently, and it is this independence that allows for the “other” to exist.
When we enter into a relationship with another where we are able to share Love and Bliss, we feel fulfilled – but there is a challenge unfolding we are unaware of. Our independence challenges our Faith because once incarnated on Earth as a unique self, we think that the space between the Divine and ourselves has widened. This is not true; it has not. We are ever-connected, vibrantly and completely to the Divine, as well as, having a spark of the Divine within ourselves. All is well unless we choose to doubt that connection. When we doubt, our Faith begins to waver.
When Faith wavers,
the spirit body becomes misshapen and irregular in structure.
An uneven, irregular line like the break in an egg’s shell begins in the spirit body and then through a process and time frame specific to the individual, this crack will extend next to the mental body, then the emotional body and then all the way down into the physical body. Where ever the crack is present, the wavering of Faith will occur, and there will be a general overall lack of clarity.
For instance, in the mental body a break in Faith manifests as beliefs that support themes of victimization, betrayal or abandonment. Conversations will centralize around revenge, vindication, blame, unfairness, regret or isolation.
In the emotional body a break in Faith manifests as feelings of despair, misery, loneliness, guilt, anger, hate or disgust. The community that is searched out and gathered is one that affirms the validity of these feelings.
In the physical body a break in Faith manifests as a threat to wellness. This could be a benign event like a cold or a sore throat but in an already compromised physical system there will be some form of major physical dysfunction especially if the break in Faith has existed for years. Depending on the severity of the break and the depth of its implications to the individual because of their state of health, this could greatly contribute to the development of cancer, arthritis or heart disease. The most severe break in Faith in the physical body can manifest as a heart attack or a stroke.
In the spirit body a radical break in Faith can manifest as a militant disconnect from any Inner Peace and/or a sweeping lack of Trust in others. In the mental body, we could see a complete mental breakdown, and in the emotional body, a psychotic break.
The physical pain of being disconnected from our Faith drives us to hold on very tightly to each other and/or our beliefs. This happens because we are terrified, certain we have been victimized, betrayed or abandoned.
Our uniqueness will determine how we process our suffering. Some of us will grab for solutions, others for pain killers, surgical procedures or miracle cures. Others of us will retreat, some will strike out at others and blame them for their suffering or misfortune and then descend further into misery and isolation.
What can you do to heal yourself?
As you can see, there are many repercussions to any wavering in your Faith. Repairing the break in your Faith, requires you surrender to What Is whether your symptoms are spiritual, mental, emotional or physical.
You begin this work by creating clear intention. You might say to yourself in quiet, reflective moments, “I intend to heal my wavering Faith.” In this way, you focus yourself in the direction of your intention or goal. You can also aspire to surround yourself with things that make you feel joyful, to seek out those who have healed themselves, pray, meditate, find a spiritual counselor who is sympathetic to your intentions or join a community dedicated to wellness.
You can not think or emote your way into healing this dysfunction. This is spiritual work not mental or emotional work. You do not have to understand the process in order to heal, but you will have to find Faith, a deep and abiding Faith in What Is. You will have to Trust that where ever you are in your life and what ever is happening to you is of Divine Inspiration, not intended to punish you, but leading you to your answers. Healing a break in your Faith leads you to places you’ve abandoned or never been to before, places where you are joyful and feel fulfilled.
When you lose your direct connection to the Divine, you have detoured off your life’s path. You may be struck suddenly by the impact of your wavering connection or have only a vague sense of a long term weakening connection with Faith. You may feel mentally confused, emotionally distraught or physically ill when you realize something is not “right.” It doesn’t matter what motivates you to begin the healing process, just begin it. Here are some simple steps to activate in the moment of self-discovery that will assist you in getting back on track. You can repeat them as often as feels necessary or as often as you recognize you have detoured off your life’s path.
1) Stop – where ever you are.
2) Take a few deep breaths.
3) Observe the situation without judgment to gain full consciousness about what is happening.
4) Declare your intention to come back to the center of who you are by saying softly out loud to yourself, “I intend to heal my wavering Faith.”
5) Let go of your fierce hold on what isn’t working for you…and Trust.
6) As you continue your healing work or begin a regular, recommended daily practice of
reflection for healing, you may want to change your declaration to:
“I align myself with What Is, knowing I am at all times Divinely held.”
or “I surrender to What Is.”
7) Follow the thread of promise that begins to gleam through the darkness of your lack of
clarity.
8) Take time to record your healing journey. This will allow you to monitor your progress and to share with others.
The rewards of repairing wavering Faith are many. Besides gaining clarity in all levels of your Being-ness, feeling more joyful, energized and healthier…you will feel Loved and, in return, be more Loving towards others.
In hopeful anticipation of your healing, I offer you blessings.
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Thank you for listening to “When Faith Wavers.” The concepts referred to in this lesson and other topics related to your relationship with the Divine – are all expanded and fully studied in the Spiritual Healthcare program, a community dedicated to wellness and deeper understanding. Visit www.Spiritual-Healthcare.net (or refer to the index in the left hand margin) and review the many enriching, introductory materials.
May you find the support you need to deepen your Faith.
This is Corinne signing off for now.
The Spiritual Healthcare Network
Touch Stones to True Wellness
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“When Faith Wavers”
By Reverend Corinne S. Ramage
We all suffer the repercussions of wavering Faith to some degree or another. A break in our connection to Faith usually occurs in direct response to a major event in our lives; perhaps a relationship that dissolves unexpectedly, the loss of a job, the betrayal of someone we thought was a friend or the sudden death of a loved one. This break can be traumatic or it can be gradual, as in the case of the erosion of our worthiness, the growing realization that life is not as we expected it to be or the dawning sense that our personal goals have been misguided.
