A Leap of Faith & Wisdom

I have tried to collate a few quotes of well known authors on Faith and tried to weave them together,  to make it read like an article. I have not used the names of the authors along with the quote but I have listed all of them at the end. Hope you like this!

Faith

Take a leap of faith!

I began with the the thought "Hey It's a leap of faith!
So why consider anything but the faith and leap?".... Then I thought heck.. I don't know what does  'faith' mean and without knowing what faith is how can I take  even one step ahead ... Forget about the leap...!!!

So I started looking up for various quotes on faith to learn what faith means so that I can take  'a leap of faith'. After going through many quotes, I selected some:

The first few quotes that impressed me were this:

["Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

"Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see." ]

I said wow that's what faith is all about. We don't need to see or worry or fear of what lies ahead but simply take that first step despite not knowing what lies ahead.  I felt yeah that's what faith is all about and I felt better.

Then the next one that caught my attention was this:

[Faith is not without worry or care, but faith is fear that has said a prayer]

This quote  turned my earlier feeling about faith topsy turvy and made me feel a little wary... It put all the onus on me that I have to be wary and careful and  pray in fear. Somehow, I felt that this quote was asking me to do  exactly what  I was looking to avoid & get rid of.


Then I moved on to other quotes:

["Deep faith eliminates fear."

"All you need to do is hold on tight...and believe."

"Faith begins where Reason sinks exhausted."]

Now I was getting a bit confused.... Faith eliminates fear? Then why faith should be said to be not without fear? Is faith just a belief? When the reason ends when faith begins.. So I don't need to reason it out before I embrace faith?


Then the following quotes caught my attention:

["As we grow older, it becomes difficult to just believe. It's not that we don't want to, but too much has happened that we just can't." 

"Did you ever hear the story about the priest who lost God? One day a priest who had served God long and hard for many years woke up and realised that he no longer believed in God. He decided to seek help and guidance from the Archbishop. The priest told the Archbishopm, 'I don't believe in God anymore. What should I do?' The Archbishop simply responded, 'Pretend &Fake it until you realize it.]

Then I started wondering whether have I grown too old that it is difficult to have Faith? And Should I try faking it till  I realize it?


Then I got my answer in the following quotes:

["Faith is a process of leaping into the abyss not on the basis of any certainty about ~where~ we shall land, but rather on the belief that we ~shall~ land

"Faith is a living and unshakable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its s

"Faith is not trying to believe something regardless of the evidence; faith is daring something regardless of the consequences." -

"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." -

"Faith is a passionate intuition." 

Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place." ]


The more and more I read these quotes, I realized that a stand alone faith is no faith but blind belief. Faith and wisdom go together. Faith moves the mountains but wisdom takes it in the right direction. Faith without wisdom is leaping to thin air blindly. So faith with wisdom is what makes it possible for one take a leap of faith!



Credits:
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Carter Heyward
Henry Ward Beecher
Joseph Goebbels
Kahlil Gibran
William Newton Clarke
Sherwood Eddy
Blaise Pascal
William Wordsworth
Thomas Merton
Stephen King
Lech Walesa
Albert Pike
George Seaton
Emmanuel Teney