Faith Checklist

I rarely engage in social media. My feed is mostly full of quotes and pictures of the Masters, yoga videos and cat/dog other animal videos. The posts that I put up will either be related to yoga / vedanta / special needs. To preserve my own sanity, I have unfollowed people who post either extreme left or extreme right posts, posts that glorify / demean religion or caste etc. 

One cannot deny that social media has tremendous power in shaping people's opinion, give a glimpse of lived experiences of those whom we otherwise may not come across in real life, provide a platform for everyone to voice their side of the story, raise awareness of issues that are not spotlighted by main stream media etc. It is a wonderful tool, a great boon to connect people across the world, it can broaden our horizons...basically it has unlimited power. And we all know that it is a double edged sword. I am not going to get into the pros and cons of social media. 

Instead, I would like to share some thoughts on my refection of faith in these times of social media propaganda. Where memes and posts rarely bother to fact check but instead designed to provocate / insult / injure. Where the comments turn vitriolic. Where people hide behind anonymity of the internet to post hateful and spiteful content targeting the other faiths and beliefs. 

I am specifically choosing to write about faith because it plays an important role in our lives. Our beliefs shape our thoughts, our thoughts manifest as words and deeds and our actions shape our destiny and also that of others. Thus, one of the core factors that determine our very lives is our faith.

"FAITH" here means not only our religious beliefs. By the word faith, am indicating that core belief that is so closely enmeshed with our identities and shape our personality. Ultimately, all these are identities that pertains to our body, mind and  intellect. This includes, but is not limited to our religion, caste, language, culture, gender and gender based roles, political ideologies and other strong personal convictions. 

Whether we are aware or not, our faith drives our thoughts, words and deeds. And while faith is a powerful tool that help us find our place in the society and live our lives as the social animals that we are, this same faith-driven extreme fixations can make us anti-social elements too! This same faith that can guide and uplift us also has the power to blind and destroy us. It can make our lives glorious and magnificent yet at the same time, has the tremendous power to wreck havoc and create utter chaos and confusion. It can bring out the divine in us or unveil the ugly demon in us. 

The more I reflect on faith, the more I understood its tremendous power. So how do we harness this power for our own good? How to prevent it from destroying our peace of mind? Listed below are a few points to ponder. It can be used to self evaluate our faith. The key here is, we need not feel so insecure about our faith that we stop from doing course correction. Course correction does not mean completely abandoning our faith. It just means trying to understand it better and not twist it to suit our baser instincts.

Questions to ask oneself to understand if our faith is helping us evolve or devolve: 

1. Is my faith bringing out love an kindness towards all beings or is it making me hate / reject certain groups?
2. Is my faith making me accept all people as they are or is it making me reject them? (This can particularly be applied to marginalized communities like the LGBTQ)
3. Does my faith make me believe that ONLY my way is the right way or does it reinforce that the paths are many but the goal is one?
4. Is my faith restricting me from expressing me as I am or does it allows complete freedom of expression?
5. Is my faith allowing me to pursue my dreams / ambitions /goals or is it stopping me from doing so because of my gender, caste etc?
6. Is my faith making me more tolerant or is it making me intolerant?
7. Does my faith grant me the privilege of feeling superior to others and treat some sections of the society inferior to myself? (think in terms of gender, sects, caste etc)
8. Is my faith making me feel inferior to others?
9. Does my faith promote exclusivity (Is there a strong sense of "us" Vs "Others") or does it make me all embracing and inclusive?
10. Am I using my faith as an excuse for my excesses / wrong doings / inhuman behavior / cruelty towards fellow beings and animals?
11. Is my faith making me judge people based on "their" faith or is it making me see humans as humans without the tags of race, religion, caste, creed, gender etc?
12. Is my faith stopping me from believing in providing equal opportunity for all?
13. Does my faith make me a better human than what I was yesterday? (the comparison is always with one self)
14. Is my faith ultimately helping me see the "oneness" or is it always creating a feeling of "otherness"?

Introspection and self awareness are the key to our own evolution. We need not be so insecure with our faith based identities that we have to be afraid to question it. 

I would like to leave you with the thoughts of the Great Master Pujya Gurudev Sw. Chinmayananda on faith. Let us read, reflect and realise our own divine nature! Om.

"Is faith really blind or purely emotional? Is it wrong to inquire and question?

True faith is neither blind nor emotional. It is a deep conviction based on experience and reason, which gives to us a basis for further inquiry — which should continue until we ‘know’ what we believe in.

We need to have faith in the means of knowledge. I trust what my eyes see in order for me to understand what I read. In school and college, knowledge takes place due to trust in the books, teachers, and instruments and methods of teaching and learning.

Questioning is not opposed to faith. Unfortunately, in the present day, we have become ‘men of little faith’ right from school and are therefore plagued with doubts and confusions about most things in life. Instead of being critical thinkers, we have become criticizing thinkers.

Instead of questioning, we are suspicious. We do not question what we want to do but question what we do not want to do. A truly inquiring mind is capable of greatness."