Faith

If you dig a little deeper, you will find that the people who are most at peace in their lives and consider their lives to be successful, have strong faith. They have strong faith and trust in themselves and in their relationship with the world. For the majority, they actually feel as though they are inextricably linked to the world, or universe and it is that connection that enables their success. Many of them meditate regularly to develop this relationship because it seems to be that it’s the unconscious part of the mind, accessible through this form of relaxation, that is connected to the greater universe. As their relationship deepens they experience greater levels of joy, inspiration, abundance, confidence, resilience, courage and determination, and reduced levels of fear and doubt, stress and anxiety, loneliness, struggle and envy. Sounds pretty appealing don’t you think?!

The reason there’s so many different religions and faiths is that it’s such a huge concept, well above our mere mortal’s level of understanding. It’s like we have a vague idea that there’s ‘something’ more going on, I mean there must be, but it’s something so big and so mind blowing, most of us haven’t got the faintest clue what it is. In a desperate need to get it, and to know it and to feel it’s awesomeness and get close to it, since the beginning of time we’ve made our best guesses at defining it. And then we’ve argued over it… a lot! You don’t have to look at them too closely though to see that there are many similarities. All recognise an omniscient presence, whether this be a God, an energy, a life force or whatever, and many imply that we are a part of it. Most encourage love, forgiveness, kindness, compassion, non-violence. Most faiths teach that all of humanity is equal. All faiths require some form of ‘practise’. Faith isn’t something that we just believe, it’s something we do.

For some of you, you may already have a faith. Is it working for you? Does it guide you to make decisions that have a positive effect on your life? Does your faith bring you closer to yourself? Or is it something you do stubbornly out of habit, unwilling to change? Now might be a good opportunity to really think about whether your faith needs a re-vamp, a tweak, a re-birth.

I was brought up in a Christian household. Although we regularly attended church and went to a Christian school, I never felt as though it was forced on me. I was given exposure to the story of Jesus and willingly took on the teachings that I understood and lived by the Christian values of kindness and compassion. The whole dying on the cross thing to absolve our sins was something I never understood though, no matter how many times it was explained to me. I could buy the fact that Jesus existed. My mum had an ancient history degree and assured me that there was evidence for it, but whether he was the son of God, sent from heaven, I wasn’t so sure. And does he really listen to our prayers?! As I grew older I decided that if I was a God, as great as the Christians claimed their God to be that I couldn’t bring myself to cast my beloved minions (because we were lead to believe that he loved us more that anything) into hell no matter what they’d done. And anyway, I’d love them so unconditionally I’d never see anything they had done as a ‘sin’. While I was studying hypnotherapy, I was having dinner with a very Christian friend of mine from school who announced to me that “we are all sinners!” and my heart broke a little bit. What a terribly unproductive belief upon which to base your life! In my 20s I dabbled in Atheism, as demonstrated rather successfully by my father, in Buddhism and in Pantheism. And one day I decided to stop being so arrogant as to assume that I would ever be able to understand God. I took a break in the active search for a few years, distracted by career and children. And then my dad died. It’s funny the way the universe reminds you of things you’d forgotten. I wasn’t sure I needed such a savage reminder, but then I suppose dad was on his own path and I was smart enough and bold enough to use his journey as a lesson for my own. I’ve realised that we don’t have to understand God, or the Source or the Force or whatever it is in order to be close to it and to feel it. And we certainly don’t have to name it. I’ve realised that a sin isn’t something that God punishes us for. It’s simply something that poses a hindrance to us accessing him. Prayer is simply what we do in hypnosis when we’re creating change. And Jesus was just like the rest of us, inextricably linked to the universe. He just happened to know it and used this knowledge to demonstrate what we’re all capable of.

Those who have gone before us have guided us, we just need to learn from them and take action. Since then I’ve done a lot of reading and I’ve done a lot of practise. And I’ve got a really long way to go. But I feel as though it’s the constant, if gradual progression that’s so rewarding. I feel like a 16th century explorer, without the scurvy and sea sickness, the dehydration, the natives. In fact, what I feel when I’m exploring the universe through meditation, tucked away in the safety and privacy of myself is excitement, inspiration, and love and, quite frankly, anything else I want to feel.