Defining (non-religious) Faith
I was talking with a friend other day, and he brought up a definition of faith which I thought was quite interesting.
Basically, faith is the confidence that you can overcome statistical odds. In life, we often shun away from choices because we hear statistics that sound vaguely like this: – only 1 in 4 first-time college attenders ever finish college – only 1 out of 100 actors ever “make it” to star in blockbuster films – most people who are neurotic feel unhappy in life
Such factoids tend to cause us to abandon our goals or feel like we are consigned to some sort of doom, but a person operating with faith believes that through effort, they can become the exception and overcome the odds. And to be honest, I think many times having this sort of faith does help out tremendously.
I like this definition because it not only captures a common word really well, but is also something that lends a lot of hope and optimism. It also makes me rethink the relationship between statistics and will, and gives me a bit more courage to tackle things that are hard, uncommon, or unusual. I wanted to write it down here because it's not everyday where a simple definition can do so much.
— Categorized under: #philosophy