A friend of mine posted a link to part 1 of this video (this is part 2), which is an interview with Ayn Rand and Phil Donahue. He asks her if she is an athiest, to which she replied “Yes.”. Phil did a tisk tisk noise, and she responded “I could do the same to you, you know?”, which followed with laugher.
Phil: You don’t approve of religion because?
Ayn: Because it’s mystical, because it’s based on faith. Not on reason and facts.
This made me think…I still to this day, using my own mind, do not hold things to be true based on arbitrary assertion. Typically when someone says they have ‘faith’, they have a belief in an arbitrary assertion. This is dangerous. Very dangerous.
But if a person doesn’t know something to be true, yet has enough experience or knowledge that they can trust that something might be true…this can be called ‘faith’, of which I can say I have regarding there being more to life than…well the pursuit of material gain, or satisfying sexual urges. I have faith that I can somehow attain the same sense of life I once had when I was in my youth. The same feeling of freedom, joy, and interest in the mystery of the world, instead of being a tired old curmudgeon that see’s the world as a big math problem that has been mostly solved, where the honest and humble are trampled and left in the dust of the cut throat.
Note: Something anyone must understand about Ayn Rand is her history. She came from Soviet Russia where the majority supported forced altruism, where you had no choice, the government was going to take your money and everything you owned for the “good of the people” as a whole (collectivism). She is not against private charity, or your personal decision to help those in need. She’s against any sacrifice by force/coercion.
The Mystic
I want to further clarify something I learned from Howdie Mickoski recently. I used to think that mysticism was the result of men trying to explain the universe they did not truly understand, only to create a sense of security for themselves in the universe, or to explain what happens to us after we die (out of fear of an unavoidable non-existence). I myself would rather accept a point of non-existence rather than lie to myself with some story of a “Christian” heaven.
Ancient schools known as ‘mystery schools’ were created to teach the ways of attaining this knowing of that which is beyond our mental reasoning/conceptual capacity. It is not because they wanted to be secretive that they are called ‘mystery’ schools, but because of the nature of what is taught that ‘mystery’ is the word used. “Mystery” is related to the Greek word ‘Myein‘.
"A mystic is one who searches for the answers to such questions as who am I, what am I, what is God, or what is the universe? They seek out these answers through acquired knowledge, personal experience, and altered states of consciousness where they attempt to reach the truths beyond the physical world. The experience of mysticism is beyond words. It can never be explained, but the explanations entice others to follow a similar path and experience similar beauty. Mysticism is not religion, yet at the heart of all religion is mysticism. It is not concerned with beliefs, doctrines or rules, but knowing, love, and the realization of a deeper reality.
A mystic is one who searches for the answers to such questions as who am I, what am I, what is God, or what is the universe? They seek out these answers through acquired knowledge, personal experience, and altered states of consciousness where they attempt to reach the truths beyond the physical world. The experience of mysticism is beyond words. It can never be explained, but the explanations entice others to follow a similar path and experience similar beauty. Mysticism is not religion, yet at the heart of all religion is mysticism. It is not concerned with beliefs, doctrines or rules, but knowing, love, and the realization of a deeper reality."
- Howdie Mickoski – Ancient Egyptian Widsom Revealed
Trusting that something might be true because the way in which one learned it matches the way in which one learned something else (which he later directly verified) cannot be called “faith.” Faith specifically means ignoring that one is still aware that, unlike other facts, this fact has not been directly verified – and so attempting to justify it as certain another way. That was is this: certainty does not mean that every fact has to have direct sensory verification to be considered certain, but it does mean that one knows enough about the fact that – in principle – could do so. It means integrating the fact that our minds are potent with the fact that our senses are valid. How does one even begin to go about using one’s reasoning ability, let alone one’s senses, to verify the supernatural?
“Faith”, as opposed to certainty gained via logic (as opposed to perception), necessarily requires that one understand that one could never verify the claim, yet chooses to regard it as, and live as if it is, true nevertheless.
It is true that you can regain the sense of life you had in your youth, but the way to do it isn’t through “altered states of consciousness.” Psychological techniques which are commonly called “spiritual therapy” are not altered states of consciousness. They are in kind the same consciousness employed during one’s most intense abstract reasoning. The only kind of consciousness – employed in a different direction. To alter one’s state of conscious – to take drugs, or to let any random notion that might impinge one’s attention have the status of valid (not unreal, but valid) simply because it occured – is, strictly speaking, not consciousness. It is neurological momentum – similar to the twitching of snake’s body after it has been beheaded.
“Spiritual therapy” can be, and for virtually everyone must be, an essential component of maintaining or regaining the sense of life common to youth, but ultimately they are still psychological techniques. By themselves – apart from a strict, rigorous, precise, and unrelenting commitment to reality – or is given equal placement on one’s epistemological hierarchy – they are nothing but a guarantee that, sooner or later, the opposite will occur. This usually starts with sloppy thinking and speaking, proceeds to flirtations with over-generosity, and ends with a feeling of helpless because of, or shame for, being rational when one is surrounded by the irrational – all in the name of remaining “spiritually vibrant.”
Hm… Okay. So it’s possible to have a different definition of faith. Surely some might strongly associate the word ‘faith’ with the blind faith concept, whereas others might associate it with what you’ve described…being aware that something might be true. Basically holding a ‘maybe’ in their own mind regarding certain things.
I agree, there are many in the world which try to hold a story which they were told as true. Some will even lay their lives on the line to defend the story as true. But on the other side of that coin there are those which understand that the religious stories are really just a distortion of ancient “teaching” which definitely integrates with what we understand about psychology. You can sit or lie down and meditate and place your attention in your own body for a period of time, and you may begin to notice sensations in your own body…not through your senses, but your sense of yourself expanding or contracting within your normal boundaries of your body. Not always, but sometimes. This is a shift in the state of consciousness. Typically you may find that there are a kind of “energetic” movement. I don’t understand what it is, and many have told me that you can’t explain what is happening. I’ve only seen that those which practice this enough notice improvements in their quality of life.
You might say that faith is what we piece together about reality without any actual experience- and then hold onto and defend deaply.
Mysticism is based on an experience of reality or self- that may or may not be true, but at least is experiental so we can proceed on that basis. Mysticism, if it stays in that realm, is open to change based on new experiences.
However most mystical experiences simply get moved into the faith area- an idea one knows everything of or from the experience- and as such all possible doorways to answers close
Well said Howdie!