A Leap Through Faith

I'm going to try something daring

I hope you'll play along

I'm going to try to prove

that everyone

has the capacity for faith

Why?

What purpose does it serve

to investigate with reason,

something so traditionally held

by those of high piety?

I'll give you my answer

but first you must do this...

Close your eyes

and imagine if you will

the scene I am to set forth

Put on a bright yellow shirt

and walk into a pitch black room.

No light of any kind.

Now ask yourself this simple question,

"Is my shirt still yellow?"

If you immediately said "Yes",

you have faith in logic.

You know the properties of the shirt have not changed,

therefore it is indeed still yellow.

But you can't prove it without turning on the light.

If you pondered for a moment and then said "No",

you have faith in your observation.

The shirt no longer appears yellow,

therefore it is indeed no longer yellow.

But you can't prove it without turning on the light.

If you puzzled about it even longer and then said "I don't know"

you have faith in the unknown.

It either is or it isn't,

and you don't have enough information to declare with certainty

until you prove it by turning on the light.

And for those of you who thought

you could circumvent this nonsensical experiment

by refusing to don the shirt and enter the room,

you have faith in yourself.

Belief that you know the answer without having to ask the question

A human does not carry the capacity

for the belief in anything

without at least a measure

of unsubstantiated and illusory

faith.

Why is it important to remember

that we all have the capacity for faith?

Our race would most certainly,

and most likely rather quickly, cause its own demise

if no one believed in anything.

In what you believe,

I pass no judgment.

My faith lies in the first question I asked

and the belief that we as humans

should never stop asking it.

"This is not a proof."

You say.

"Man can exist without faith."

You say.

Then let us examine it from a different angle.

Throw a knife up into the air

directly over your head,

and while it's on its way up,

we can have a discussion

about your faith in gravity.