"Belief comes from the head, faith comes from the heart. Beliefs and belief systems are products of the conscious intellect; faith, as I am using the word, is a knowing of the heart which supersedes belief of the mind. Belief systems require evidence be found in sensory (material) reality while faith transcends material reality and can transport the knower into her or his experience of the Great Inner Silence, a state which cannot be described with words. Belief leads to arguments requiring “proofs” resting on “logic” and “theology” to satisfy the conscious intellect while faith leads to a fellowship of an unspoken knowing.
Most people use the words faith and belief interchangeable, or, perhaps, use faith to refer only to their religious beliefs—or the trust they put in something other than the Spirit within them. We are conditioned from birth to trust authorities and things outside ourselves, such as scriptures, religious leaders and other authority figures, rather than our own Inner Voice. So, as we learn and grow, we accumulate various behaviors and habits of deferring to authorities other than ourselves, that is, other than our own Inner Truth.
When the authority is a law enforcement officer directing traffic around an automobile accident, this deference is a sensible and practical. But it is not practical or healthy to defer to any authority outside of the Spirit within us to govern our lives or guide our spiritual paths."
By: Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1328),
Most people use the words faith and belief interchangeable, or, perhaps, use faith to refer only to their religious beliefs—or the trust they put in something other than the Spirit within them. We are conditioned from birth to trust authorities and things outside ourselves, such as scriptures, religious leaders and other authority figures, rather than our own Inner Voice. So, as we learn and grow, we accumulate various behaviors and habits of deferring to authorities other than ourselves, that is, other than our own Inner Truth.
When the authority is a law enforcement officer directing traffic around an automobile accident, this deference is a sensible and practical. But it is not practical or healthy to defer to any authority outside of the Spirit within us to govern our lives or guide our spiritual paths."
By: Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1328),
