AFFLICTION  FAITH  HOPE AND GOD

An old student who is now a journalist wrote a post on Facebook. It was about the connection between affliction, faith, hope and God. Her words initiated a thought process in me, ” If not anything else, affliction, for many, often marks the beginning of a spiritual journey… (the degree and life of spirituality obviously varies). It’s only after an adversity that we brush off the dust from the God engraved in our mind and engage in a dialogue with Him/Her… Surrendering, but with the hope that S/he would bail us out…It is being selfish… But you need to cling on to something when nothing around you seems to work, right? Maybe that’s why there’s God, so we can just talk it out and HOPE that our deepest dreams would come true quickly…”

Affliction initiates faith and spirituality

How right she is in saying so because we actually come closest to God and try to talk the adversity out with Him, when we have no one around us on whom we can rely. Is it spirituality or just faith and hope? Spirituality, may be no but yes it can be called the initiation of spirituality in our lives.

While I was still thinking about it when another comment popped up which said,”.I think embracing God during affliction is neither spirituality nor hope. Its best we don’t let the Old Guy meddle with our minds.” The choice of words made me smile and comment back,” It’s neither an issue of spirituality or hope nor even about troubling the Old Guy but looking for an anchor during times of hopelessness. Just a survival skill.”

I really wonder how it cannot be related to hope when we know that somethings, some situations are beyond us. We want the scale to tilt our way but in reality we know it can never happen. So feel hopeless ? No, I don’t think so. Life is full of twists and turns and how and when it takes a different turn can never be presumed and predicted.

Popped another comment,” the Old Man may seem like an anchor. But he has only divided humanity. Has led to all the bloodshed and the hatred we know. He is not just an escape but a dangerous Old Man best avoided. Anchor in good friends, parents, siblings or books. Or better still anchor in yourself.”

Faith, spirituality and God

Now, that was it…. I thought. When did the poor ‘Old Man’ ever tell us to shed blood in His name?  Its just a matter of where u find peace and we all differ as far as our life experiences are concerned. Our anchor, our faith and beliefs depend on our life experiences. Like many other things God n faith cannot be generalized. And by the way, why blame poor old man for every wrong in this world. He is above all these petty things. Why drag Him into personal ego issues?  Well, the chat got over (hopefully) but I am still thinking about it….

• Can Prayers change our destiny?
• Can we find peace in an unseen force?
• Does S/He exist anywhere at all?

There are so many unanswered universal questions which keep tricking the strongest believers some time and other.

Faith is personal secret

Faith and belief must be the most closely guarded secret because that is a very personal thought.  Why discuss it with anyone? When we move from affliction to hope, we get liberated and that liberation pushes us closer to our faith in God. If you feel bound to react to others because they are not following your faith, then your faith has no hope.