faith needed

[Shalini]

I think in the world that we live in today, faith is needed more than ever. The stresses and expectations of everyday life--from family, work, relationships, etc--- can leave one feeling so overwhelmed   

[laurent]

But shouldn't one find one's own way, rather than rely on blind trust and adopt someone else's beliefs? Yes in modern life you will need to take some time aside and think about what you do and why. I think that it is essential that you do. Whether or not you have faith. But why do you need the faith? It seems counterproductive to me, like a pre-packaged belief system you can just unwrap and adopt as your own. No thinking necessary and no need to question yourself or anything. Too easy!

[laurent]

Good point Andre, mankind has an appetite for the sublime, which has been traditionally satisfied by religion and worship. I think that a few thousand years ago, that might have been the most efficient and effective way to do so. But is that still true today?

Our understanding of the universe is surely not complete but it is much deeper than it was even just a couple of hundred years ago. We understand such things as DNA, quantum physics, relativity, we have discovered beautiful mathematical truths. We understand much more our place and impact in nature. All this knowledge is accessible to anybody, anywhere in the world. Can the beauty of what we know and understand not satisfy our need for absolute and truth that is currently satisfied by religion? Should it?