We say that we believe in very many things, however, it is not necessarily true that we truly believe in all that we say we believe in. This evening as I spent time in personal adoration, being the only one in campus at the world adoration time, I was reflecting on the creed, 'I believe...'. I realised that all the tenets given there are good and nice to repeat but really do I really really believe in all of them? Say for example, how much of it is true that I am really convinced of the fact of 'life eternal'? Do I believe in it as much as I believe that it is my parents who gave birth to me and nurtured me all my life? If so, why do we live our lives as if this life is the one eternal?
It also dawned on me that perhaps most of the things that we believe in, either in truth or for convenience, are the things we take for granted. It could be out of experience that nothing so far has happened differently than the 'normal', or that I've never ever given it a thought at all. I just gulped it down and assumed it to be so. Say like the earth under my feet as I walk is going to hold me up and not let me sink to the core of the earth. I never ever doubt that. But say if I were to walk the same road in the middle of the night with no light at all, will I still walk with the same confidence that I walk during broad daylight?
It also dawned on me that perhaps most of the things that we believe in, either in truth or for convenience, are the things we take for granted. It could be out of experience that nothing so far has happened differently than the 'normal', or that I've never ever given it a thought at all. I just gulped it down and assumed it to be so. Say like the earth under my feet as I walk is going to hold me up and not let me sink to the core of the earth. I never ever doubt that. But say if I were to walk the same road in the middle of the night with no light at all, will I still walk with the same confidence that I walk during broad daylight?
:D i go through different phases on this one.
ReplyDeleteFor some time, I stopped reciting stuff that i was not sure I believed in. Then, sometimes I would recite it while a corner of my mind was saying, um .. you know, I'm really not sure about this particular bit. So don't hold me to it, please. Then, it also occurred to me that it really does not matter at all. To god, to me or to the priest or the church. Especially after they added bad grammar and awkward phrases to the prayers, I just keep quiet and wait for it to finish because I don't feel like learning the new version anyway. If only Benedict had to retire a year earlier, we would have been saved this pain. But anyway, these are small things, so no problem.
Except of course, when people become all invested in those phrases and fight for them. I have my own interpretation of different phrases that I recite, until something happens to change them for me :D. Would I have qualified as a heretic/blasphemer in the olden days?
My mum prays for us (children)to be god-fearing everyday, so who knows what will happen ;)
The guys who composed the Nicene Creed had a sense of language. As a child, I always liked the sound of ...light from light, true god from true god, begotten not made... very poetic. I am quite grateful they did not fiddle with the 'Our Father' which has increasingly become more meaningful.
Btw, I think i believe in life everlasting. Nothing has happened so far to disprove it as well :D