Question: How can one develop faith within oneself ?
Answer: Adita,
You have asked:
“Suppose a person realizes that the whole problem is because that faith is missing. Can it be regained? Can a person who does have faith, get it?How can one develop that faith within oneself? “
How do you know that asking this question to me will be helpful?
How do you know that there is anything called the Truth and that the Truth can be known?
And lastly, how do you know that it makes sense to keep living?
We already have faith. Faith is not to be obtained. You have it.
But the ego stands in front of the faith. The ego does not want to surrender. The poor thing is so afraid, it wants to fight.
Tell ego,”Dear kid, there is no need to worry. You are in safe hands. Relax.”
The ego will ask for some kind of proof, some reassurance. So ask the ego to look attentively at everything that can be looked at.
Ask her: Don’t you see that everything on Earth is just fine for you to live?
Don’t you see that the air is perfect for you to breathe?
Don’t you see that you have been given a life without showing any deservedness?
Don’t you see that all your internal organs work well without you even knowing how they work?
Don’t you see that you can understand what is written?
The ego, in attention, will surely reply, “Yes, I see”.
Then ask her, who is providing all this to you: life, air, water, consciousness, love, understanding, joy?
The ego, in deeper attention, will reply, “I don’t know. But there surely is a system in place which is taking care of me.”
Ask her, “The system is doing so much for you, continuously. Don’t you trust that system?”
The ego, with its voice shaking with gratitude, will reply, “I do. I have no option but to trust”.
Ask, “Then why do you show frequent signs of distrust?”
Ego will say, “Because I am the age-old habit of stupidity and suspicion. But surely, I want to trust. Nothing calms me down more deeply than trusting the system. My ultimate wish is to trust so deeply that I donot have to worry anymore. Just that, in inattention, I feel that trusting is harmful and suspicion is needed.”
“Are you feeling that way now”
“No way”
“Do you ever want to feel that way- suspicious, insecure, stupid?”
“Never”
“Then remain attentive, and remain in trust. This trust is called faith.
-Based on Question and Answer session with me on one of the e-forums.
Dated: 24th June,’14
