Wtf When There's Faith: A New Interpretation

By Malik Samnani

Human values are on the brink of collapse, rigid and dogmatic defi nitions are easily accepted without any intellectual questioning, lack of pluralism and tolerance is evident almost everywhere, ignorance is governing all areas of our existence, people are struggling to be in harmony with themselves and with the world around them. As a result ones faith is constantly infl uenced, shaped and reshaped.

WTF explores various areas where faith or a belief has impacted the way we understand the seen, the unseen, and our relationship within and outside of us. It also discusses matters both of the physical and the spiritual.

This book will challenge the stereotype thinking and will open up a window of new interpretations.

Every page you turn is a mountain that you will move.

What is your faith made up of? Are you ready?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493107148

Malik Samnani

author biography coming soon

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Our world today is moving back in time—a time when mankind was living in the Dark Ages, a time when ignorance governed the societies, a time when people’s hearts were blackened with hatred and envy, a time when pluralism and knowledge were choked to death and those who practised and preached them were considered hypocrites.

The dark cloud of ignorance has returned from a long exile and is floating on the entire world. It is obstructing the light of knowledge to reach the life on this planet and is creating a sense of fear, chaos, and destruction.

Humanity is struggling for its identity. There is a tug of war between ignorance and knowledge. Ignorance, lack of knowledge or lack of awareness, is responsible for all the unhappy events that we see around us and within us. We have all sorts of issues that we are still unable to provide solutions to: both science and religion are struggling to prove their supremacy, religious authorities are misinterpreting the faith according to their whims, science is striving to incorporate ethics in modern research and is also finding hard to keep control on the way its inventions are being used, governments are unstable, democracy is abused, skin colour still determines one’s identity rather than morals, media influences people’s opinions, parents are disrespected, children are mistreated, older members of the family are left alone, families are breaking up, social networking is taking shape of a whole new virtual planet, countries are vying among themselves on issues that do not make any sense, the poor are getting poorer every day, child labour and malnutrition are still evident, unemployment is on the rise, millions of people are displaced due to violence in their countries. The list is heartbreaking.

On the other side of all these crises, there is still a sign of hope, hope that one day knowledge will be able to penetrate the dark cloud of ignorance and give light to the world. A time when pluralism would be cherished and valued, when the human spirit will be nurtured, when love will be able to conquer hatred, when not being religious but being spiritual will carry more significance, when civil societies will play major roles in the development of any nation, when development agencies such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and others will be supported more in their endeavours by all the countries and the people, and when there will be peace and harmony between humans and Mother Nature and also within humanity.

The dictionary meaning of the word faith is ‘strong belief (especially without proof); or religion’. Faith at times is also interpreted as trust, confidence, and hope or simply something that keeps us moving. Faith is one word which is used in almost all aspects of our lives, our endeavours, and in everything that we think or do. And it plays a very important role in our everyday tasks at home, with family, at work, in fact even when crossing roads. Because if we did not have faith, then probably we would never cross the road for fear of being run over by a vehicle. On the other hand, if all the drivers on the road did not have faith in their driving, then probably there would be no vehicles on the road. So basically faith is everywhere around us; it is always there.

Fear and anxiety are challengers to any faith. Yet in most cases faith triumphs. Almost at all times, faith is influenced by either the senses, our own experiences, the experiences of others, our likes and dislikes, our prejudices, or all that we have learnt. Faith also depends on a particular situation and society. We also see our faith change, become stronger or weaker and sometimes even diminish.

Faith or belief can either be for good or for bad. The criteria of right and wrong or morals do not apply to faith. In most cases, these ethics form a later part. A simple example would be of a thief. He has faith that tonight is his lucky night and he will be able to break into a house. Although he is also apprehensive of failing or being caught, faith is what persuades him to continue his activity. Otherwise, if all the thieves were scared of stealing, then the world would never have any burglaries. Similarly, on the other hand, when a person goes off to bed, he has faith that his property is well secured and no thieves will be able to break in. Otherwise, people would be awake all night for fear of being burgled.

At times a belief which is good for one person can be bad for the other. For example, a person may have faith that he will live a healthy and long life, but on the other hand, a funeral director hopes that he is able to feed his family. This also applies in other cases, such as of doctors, police, lawyers, and many others (with due respect to all these professions). One’s faith and someone else’s needs are interrelated.

There are certain beliefs that are very much based on knowledge and sound intellect; it is here that morals play an important part. Such beliefs or faith does not only give one joy but is also a haven of peace to the society. In contrast, faith that is built up on prejudice and ego ends up with great damage to oneself and the society.

I have always been fascinated by the word faith: faith in God, faith in religion, faith in traditions, faith in oneself, faith in others—the list is endless. It has been in use since the oldest history that is available to us: God has faith that his creation will believe and accept him as the Creator, the Pandavas had faith in Lord Krishna, the Kauravas had faith in their vast army, Hitler believed that the Aryan race was superior to all others, Mahatma Gandhi had faith that non-violence is the only answer to any struggle, Mother Teresa believed in unconditional service to humanity, the Wright brothers had faith that their machine would one day fly, today the United Nations has faith in its peacekeeping efforts, every company has faith that its product is better than its rivals’, parents have faith in their teens and the teens have faith in their friends, a patient has faith in his doctor and the doctor has faith in his prescription, a voter has faith in the government and the government has faith in its voter, and so on and so forth. But not all the above examples of faith are influenced by knowledge and ethics.

WTF . . . When There’s Faith has been divided into various chapters discussing everyday matters both of the physical and the spiritual and everything related to them. It tries to explore various areas where