Acting Without the Drama

January 29, 2009.  It happens every day.  Someone gives up.  The magic is gone; the ride is over; the dream dies.

I’ve had several friends that I grew up with that have lost their faith.  Now, I’m not just talking about religious faith, although that is definitely part of it for me.  I’m talking about faith in the inherent beauty and magic of the world and the people that inhabit it.  Faith that miraculous things can happen.  Faith that we can, and do, affect the world around us for the better.

I certainly understand how it’s lost.  I’ve come really close to losing it myself, more times than I care to count.  There is certainly no judgment here of my friends, or of anyone out there who may be reading my blog and thinking, “That’s me.  He’s talking about me.”

There is sadness, though.

I was reading something that someone I knew from college wrote recently.  I don’t know for sure, but what was written seemed to indicate that there was a loss of faith.  The loss wasn’t just one of religion (that was lost, too), but a loss of connection with something larger than ourselves.

I wept.

Now, I didn’t know this person incredibly well.  We were in slightly different circles, socially speaking (I wasn’t nearly as cool ), but I was always impressed by this individual’s bright demeanor and caring attitude.

And, for just a moment this morning, my world got a little bit darker.

I think that there’s something connected, maybe even profound, about most of my reaction.  The sadness and concern I think are real.  The small whiff of despair was just my voices getting stirred up.

They’re stirred up for a reason.  They know how many times I’ve flirted with (and at times even embraced and held on for dear life) darkness.  They have worked really hard to try to get me to that point permanently.  Because for them, connection is death.  The world is terrible.  People are cruel.  Life is pain.  And the sooner we figure that out, the sooner we can get on with the rest of our lives.

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with reasons why they’re wrong.

But they are.  Always.  They’re pointing away from where we really want to be.  Because the kind of life that they want us to lead once we’ve embraced the darkness is not the kind of life I want.

The voices are clever.  They always use a kernel of truth to convince us to give up.  They predict disaster for something that we’re doing, and then if disaster strikes they use that as evidence that it will ALWAYS happen.  But it doesn’t always happen.  If we’re being honest, we can see examples of it not happening, both in our lives and in the lives of others.

Fact is, faith is a choice.  It’s a choice we make every single day of our lives.  We are never completely above it all (at least, I’m pretty sure we’re not).  I don’t thing anyone is ever completely safe from the danger of losing faith.  And that’s a good thing.  It means that keeping our faith is a conscious decision we constantly make.

That’s kind of awesome, if we take a second to really think about it.

Staying conscious by constantly choosing to live with faith.  That sounds like something that I can live with.

Rate it: 1 2 3 4 5 (2 ratings)	Email it