Eric Boyd wrote:
> The last big discussion about "faith" here on Virus
> resulted in a new definition of faith, something more and deeper than
> the previous results. Perhaps you can take a look at it and see if it
> gels with your personal (understanding of) faith?
>
> I said that "an exposition of Phaith (and we use a different spelling
> to differentiate it from the Dogmatic Faith of the Virian Sin) was an
> incarnational narritive -- a story about how the present you came to
> be". Phaith itself is therefore about a deep gnosis (self
> understanding), and ultimately, such a knowledge leads to clarity of
> purpose – that state of being so certain of what is most important to
> you that all other decisions, including choice of memetic programming,
> stem from that knowledge (thanks Richard). (you can also view phaith
> from a designer stance -- phaith then isn't so much a gnosis as a
> Programming: "I *will be* that which I wish to become") Alternately,
> you can think of a phaithful person as embodying, or bringing to life,
> that which they believe in.
>
> KMO defined it as well:
>
> Phaith; n
> 1. the internalizing and embodying of a principle, frequenlty
> resulting from an experience of boundary dissolution and/or seeming
> participation in a wider, more pervasive consciousness than is the
> accepted norm and integrating the principle and/or the effects of
> the experience into one's actions, perceptions, and decision making.
> 2. that level of trust in one's modus which is necessary to function
> in an uncertain world. -- KMO, on the CoV mailing list.
>
Funny that this should come up on the list today, the day that I had written a short bit on phaith for the bookshelf portion of C-Realm.com currently under construction. A portion of the C-Realm Amazon.com associates site will be devoted to phaith related media. Here's the paragraph I just wrote today which introduces that section of the site:
Phaith
Faith is a complex concept. It has a number of elements and can affect our lives deeply. Faith can inspire us and give us a feeling of connection and identification with others that leads to heroic acts of compassion and inspired feats of creativity. It can also make us intolerant of divergent viewpoints and violently oppressive to those who don't share our faith. If we unraveled faith's complexity and subjected each of its components to the light of conscious scrutiny and considered which parts enhance the quality of our experience and which elements undermine it, we could divide faith into two packages. I call the package that enhances the quality of our experience "phaith," and the package that prompts intolerance and unconsciousness I call "dogmatism."
-KMO