Welcome back, curious hearts!
Thanks for your patience with me during my Mardi Gras hiatus. These are high holidays for me, and the energy of costume making and celebration really takes over. And then recovering and getting back to “normal life” is its own effort.
I seriously considered recording a whole episode about making my costume — including how I choose the theme, what I learned while I was making it, and what it’s like to be out on Mardi Gras dressed as a giant Wild Thing. If that’s something you’d like, let me know in the comments!
This week’s episode covers one of the most challenging paradoxes there is in a spiritual world, and I think we rarely talk about it.
I think most folks with a deep spiritual practice are ashamed of their doubt. They think it’s evidence of their inadequacy, and often are trying to eliminate it.
What if there’s no God, and prayer is just me talking to myself in the middle of the night? What if this murti is just a statue? What if meditation is just settling our nervous system, and it’s nothing more complicated than that?
Before I set on this path, I thought I just “wasn’t spiritual.” Other people believed, and I didn’t. It was black and white. I was jealous of the people who had faith, but I wasn’t one of them.
Then, life stepped in. I had no choice but to make a decision to believe. It doesn’t mean my faith is unwavering. I have doubt all the time. And now, honestly? I don’t trust people who pretend like they don’t.
Once we make friends with our doubts, things change. Our faith is no longer about “getting it right,” or being the perfect practitioner. Instead, it’s about fumbling through, with compassion and curiosity for ourselves and the Divine.
I hope you enjoy this episode, and I’m curious your thoughts!
[00:00:03] Introduction
[00:00:24] Faith vs. belief — what's the difference
[00:05:07] Why humans cling to certainty
[00:07:05] When certainty falls apart: Hurricane Katrina
[00:08:46] Faith as a choice, not a feeling
[00:15:39] Faith requires doubt — not the absence of it
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