You hear it all the time. If a person had as much faith as a mustard seed, then that person can move a mountain. Faith is all you need. Faith can work miracles. Right? Right?
Weeeeeeeellll…no.
Sorry. It sounds nice, it appeals to that part of us that wants dominion over the natural world, but…it ain’t so. Hate to have to break it to you, guys. It just plain ain’t true–at least, not in the way that people think it’s true.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Having a belief that something is possible is a prerequisite to doing that thing; if you don’t think you can do it, you ain’t gonna try. Faith, at least faith of the “I believe this is within the realm of the possible” variety (rather than the Mark Twain “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so” variety) is necessary and essential to anyone who wants to move a mountain.
But it doesn’t stop there. If you have faith that you can move a mountain, but that’s all you got, then the mountain ain’t moving. Ain’t no way. You see, it takes more than faith–you have to have faith the task can be done, but then you also have to do the work. (Moving mountains, just for the record, is backbreaking work. Mountains are big. I mean, really, really big. Tens of millions of tons of rock, and you gotta move it all from here to there.) Faith alone will get you butkis; the way faith moves mountains is by enabling you to do the work it takes to move a mountain, giving you the belief that you can figure out how to get it done.
In the case of literally moving a mountain, having faith that you can do it is what gets you started; but from there on, you still have a whole lot of work to do. It helps to have one of these:
Now, this machine required a lot of faith to build. It took faith that such a huge (and expensive!) project was possible. It took faith that it would work. It took faith that it would work and do so in a way that was more efficient than just spending the same amount of money on a whole bunch of people with shovels.
Faith is the first step, but if you believe faith alone can move a mountain, you’re deluding yourself. Faith without work is nothing; faith without the investment it takes to get things done is pointless narcissism. Faith may get the ball rolling, but it’s work, not faith, that gets the mountain from wherever it is to wherever you want it to be.
Now, this is true of any task, even something a lot smaller and closer to home than activist geology. A person who tells you that faith can make a relationship, for example? Bullshit. Relationships don’t succeed by faith. Relationships succeed because the people involved have invested in good communication skills, a suite of problem-solving and conflict-resolution tools, integrity, trust, honesty, self-knowledge, compassion, and respect. It is those things, not faith, that build a good relationship. It requires a belief that a good relationship is possible and desireable to make the other things seem worthwhile, but it’s not faith alone that does the job.
Faith can move mountains? Hogwash. Faith, of and by itself, can’t move a paper clip.
By the way, if you see the Buddha on the road, kill him. 🙂
But if you see buddha in the mirror, should you kill yourself?
Depends. Is the mirror in the road?
Heeh. Very sharp indeed.
Well, say that it was? So, perhaps, you saw yourself in the reflection of a highly polished harley davidson tailpipe?
In that case, seems to me you’d have a choice to make. An unenlightened Buddha might kill himself, but perhaps an enlightened Buddha would kill the Harley-Davidson instead.
But if you see buddha in the mirror, should you kill yourself?
Funny thing. As I’ve found my faith (in the classic sense) waning, I’ve been finding comfort in technology. Sure, it could be considered faith in mankind, but my faith in mankind is partially derived from his impressive technological achievements, like that big honkin’ machine!
Deus ex machina? Damn right!
Technology is impartial tthough.
Mankind isn’t. So faith in technology is easier than faith in mankind.
I see your point, but I honestly feel that most people have good intentions most of the time. Sure it’s easy to point to noteworthy exceptions, but the balance overall is toward the positive.
Regardless, that will eventually become a moot point, as the distinction between mankind and mankind’s technology blurs into irrelevance. Humans aren’t perfect, but we’re also not the finished product.
And when I get *my* robot body, I want a big honkin’ saw for an arm just like the machine in the picture!!! 😉
Funny thing. As I’ve found my faith (in the classic sense) waning, I’ve been finding comfort in technology. Sure, it could be considered faith in mankind, but my faith in mankind is partially derived from his impressive technological achievements, like that big honkin’ machine!
Deus ex machina? Damn right!
You know…. I’ve never liked that phrase. It always makes me…..nervous. For my sake, if you see me on the road, don’t kill me.
Do you have Buddha-nature?
Come to think of it, does a mountain have Buddha-nature?
“I’m the Buddha baby, so why don’t you kill me…”
You know…. I’ve never liked that phrase. It always makes me…..nervous. For my sake, if you see me on the road, don’t kill me.
Congratulations, you’ve reinvented Catholicism 🙂
Yikes. With less death obsession, sex negativity, and general belief in miracles, I hope!
It would be a supreme irony to have someone somehwere read something I’ve written and base a religion on it. Fortunately, what I write is exceptionally unlikely to move anyone in quite that particular way…
I only know old jokes, it seems: During a flood, one devout Christian refuses to be rescued, insisting that his deity will save him. Standing in the center of a street, he turns down rides from a neighbor’s fishing boat when the water is up to his knees, a rescue raft when the water is up to his waist, and finally a rescue helicopter when the water is up to his neck. Sure enough, the man drowns, and [I’m an atheist, but bear with me] goes to meet his deity, of whom he asks why he was not saved; the reply was, “What are you talking about – I sent you a boat, a raft, and a helicopter!” – ZM
Congratulations, you’ve reinvented Catholicism 🙂
True. Belief, faith, is not enough.
You also have to clap when Peter tells you.
…or not. 🙂
Does Peter have Buddha-nature?
“…or not. :)”
You cad! Who would wish Tinkerbell dead?!?
“Does Peter have Buddha-nature?”
Depends. Is Wendy around? Has she grown up yet? Is he getting any help from the Lost Boys, or trouble from Hook? There are a lot of factors to consider.
Well, see, I don’t really think of it as “wishing Tinkerbell dead;” I look at it more as not getting involved in someone else’s drama. Thing is, jealousy is expensive even under the best of circumstances, and when someone lets it provoke her into participating in an assassination plot aimed at the object of her affections…I just really don’t want to get involved, even indirectly, in that kind of drama, y’know?
Besides, just think of it as a bit of karmic acceleration. She did try to have him whacked, after all…
Y’know, come to think of it, when I was a kid seeing the play for the first time, I seriously thought how much more dramatically interesting it would be if I sat on my hands and let her die. I didn’t want Tink dead, but I was curious to know if she could die, and what might happen to the play if she did. All the others clapped like goons, though, so she lived and I never found out.
On an only slightly related note, my mom told me when I was young (6th grade?) that “under God” had been introduced to the pledge of alliegence in the 1950s. So I stopped saying it, just like my congressman Jim McDermott of Fahrenheit 911 fame. I’ve been making that particular ommission for years, but no one ever noticed, because everyone else, like Tinkerbell’s clapping goons, just fill the void of my protesting silence with their protestations of faith.
Wait a second…are you saying that even if you have faith, and you believe…you still have to play “simon says” with St. Peter?
Of “St. Peter” I know very little, except that he has, I think, keys.
The Peter requiring the applause, sir or madame, was no saint, just a little boy who refused to grow up, and who was panicked to see his fairy sick. As it happens, fairies require audible recognition of their existance to maintain their health.
Hence the clapping.
Really, you should at least try to familiarize yourself with our culture’s rich tradition of belief and faith before jumping to bizzarre conclusions. 😉
Sounds like the boogeymen from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. They suffer from an intrinsic condition known as “imaginary existentialism”: if everyone around them has their head under a blanket, they become intangible and unable to influence reality in any manner. Of course, if a boogeyman ever finds its own head under a blanket, it enters existential shock, unable to believe it itself exists… – ZM
True. Belief, faith, is not enough.
You also have to clap when Peter tells you.
Depends. Is the mirror in the road?
Do you have Buddha-nature?
Come to think of it, does a mountain have Buddha-nature?
Yikes. With less death obsession, sex negativity, and general belief in miracles, I hope!
It would be a supreme irony to have someone somehwere read something I’ve written and base a religion on it. Fortunately, what I write is exceptionally unlikely to move anyone in quite that particular way…
…or not. 🙂
Does Peter have Buddha-nature?
“I’m the Buddha baby, so why don’t you kill me…”
Heeh. Very sharp indeed.
Well, say that it was? So, perhaps, you saw yourself in the reflection of a highly polished harley davidson tailpipe?
That thing looks like something that Dr. Loveless would invent.
Your post puts me in mind of the guy on sextips who’s dating the 30-year-old virgin. Half the commenters were telling him to be wary of expecting big changes, and half of them were telling him to have faith that she’d turn into a sex-goddess post-wedding. Poor schmuck.
Well, look at it this way–that guy has a most excellent opportunity for a learning experience ahead of him. 🙂
That thing looks like something that Dr. Loveless would invent.
Your post puts me in mind of the guy on sextips who’s dating the 30-year-old virgin. Half the commenters were telling him to be wary of expecting big changes, and half of them were telling him to have faith that she’d turn into a sex-goddess post-wedding. Poor schmuck.
Wait a second…are you saying that even if you have faith, and you believe…you still have to play “simon says” with St. Peter?
Technology is impartial tthough.
Mankind isn’t. So faith in technology is easier than faith in mankind.
In that case, seems to me you’d have a choice to make. An unenlightened Buddha might kill himself, but perhaps an enlightened Buddha would kill the Harley-Davidson instead.
Well, look at it this way–that guy has a most excellent opportunity for a learning experience ahead of him. 🙂
“…or not. :)”
You cad! Who would wish Tinkerbell dead?!?
“Does Peter have Buddha-nature?”
Depends. Is Wendy around? Has she grown up yet? Is he getting any help from the Lost Boys, or trouble from Hook? There are a lot of factors to consider.
Of “St. Peter” I know very little, except that he has, I think, keys.
The Peter requiring the applause, sir or madame, was no saint, just a little boy who refused to grow up, and who was panicked to see his fairy sick. As it happens, fairies require audible recognition of their existance to maintain their health.
Hence the clapping.
Really, you should at least try to familiarize yourself with our culture’s rich tradition of belief and faith before jumping to bizzarre conclusions. 😉
Funny that faith should come up. A few years ago I wrote a short story for the fictional world of Sanctum about its races of visions and shadows, trying to fill in holes in the backstory, and the result was something that looking at even today I still think is the best thing I’ve ever written. It is essentially a case study of the nature of faith on a planet where it – or the lack of it – can take a physical form. It was a feat trying to carefully balance references to the game and its previously-published backstory with my own inventions in the story, along with presenting and respecting multiple points of views. I think the story actually stands on its own, outside the game context.
This story went unpublished due to reasons I won’t get into here, but just last month I decided to publish it to the Sanctum forum anyway. Here’s a link to it if you have nothing better to do:
On the Rebound
Chances are there will be a lot of inside jokes/references missed by those that are unfamiliar with the game, but they are not needed to follow along.
– ZM, who leaves his own personal opinion of faith as an exercise to the reader
Funny that faith should come up. A few years ago I wrote a short story for the fictional world of Sanctum about its races of visions and shadows, trying to fill in holes in the backstory, and the result was something that looking at even today I still think is the best thing I’ve ever written. It is essentially a case study of the nature of faith on a planet where it – or the lack of it – can take a physical form. It was a feat trying to carefully balance references to the game and its previously-published backstory with my own inventions in the story, along with presenting and respecting multiple points of views. I think the story actually stands on its own, outside the game context.
This story went unpublished due to reasons I won’t get into here, but just last month I decided to publish it to the Sanctum forum anyway. Here’s a link to it if you have nothing better to do:
On the Rebound
Chances are there will be a lot of inside jokes/references missed by those that are unfamiliar with the game, but they are not needed to follow along.
– ZM, who leaves his own personal opinion of faith as an exercise to the reader
Well, see, I don’t really think of it as “wishing Tinkerbell dead;” I look at it more as not getting involved in someone else’s drama. Thing is, jealousy is expensive even under the best of circumstances, and when someone lets it provoke her into participating in an assassination plot aimed at the object of her affections…I just really don’t want to get involved, even indirectly, in that kind of drama, y’know?
Besides, just think of it as a bit of karmic acceleration. She did try to have him whacked, after all…
Sounds like the boogeymen from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. They suffer from an intrinsic condition known as “imaginary existentialism”: if everyone around them has their head under a blanket, they become intangible and unable to influence reality in any manner. Of course, if a boogeyman ever finds its own head under a blanket, it enters existential shock, unable to believe it itself exists… – ZM
I only know old jokes, it seems: During a flood, one devout Christian refuses to be rescued, insisting that his deity will save him. Standing in the center of a street, he turns down rides from a neighbor’s fishing boat when the water is up to his knees, a rescue raft when the water is up to his waist, and finally a rescue helicopter when the water is up to his neck. Sure enough, the man drowns, and [I’m an atheist, but bear with me] goes to meet his deity, of whom he asks why he was not saved; the reply was, “What are you talking about – I sent you a boat, a raft, and a helicopter!” – ZM
I see your point, but I honestly feel that most people have good intentions most of the time. Sure it’s easy to point to noteworthy exceptions, but the balance overall is toward the positive.
Regardless, that will eventually become a moot point, as the distinction between mankind and mankind’s technology blurs into irrelevance. Humans aren’t perfect, but we’re also not the finished product.
And when I get *my* robot body, I want a big honkin’ saw for an arm just like the machine in the picture!!! 😉
Y’know, come to think of it, when I was a kid seeing the play for the first time, I seriously thought how much more dramatically interesting it would be if I sat on my hands and let her die. I didn’t want Tink dead, but I was curious to know if she could die, and what might happen to the play if she did. All the others clapped like goons, though, so she lived and I never found out.
On an only slightly related note, my mom told me when I was young (6th grade?) that “under God” had been introduced to the pledge of alliegence in the 1950s. So I stopped saying it, just like my congressman Jim McDermott of Fahrenheit 911 fame. I’ve been making that particular ommission for years, but no one ever noticed, because everyone else, like Tinkerbell’s clapping goons, just fill the void of my protesting silence with their protestations of faith.
You speak very wise words, my friend. 🙂
You speak very wise words, my friend. 🙂
Faith can move mountains
Well, that belief has been subverted in Hindu Mythology.
Hanuman lifting the Himalayas
Krishna in the pastime of lifting Govardhan Hill
Now, what does one say to people who believe in this?
-Vijay
What I say is that I wish I had a product I could market to people who believe in this sort of thing. But then, I am evil… 🙂
Faith can move mountains
Well, that belief has been subverted in Hindu Mythology.
Hanuman lifting the Himalayas
Krishna in the pastime of lifting Govardhan Hill
Now, what does one say to people who believe in this?
-Vijay
What I say is that I wish I had a product I could market to people who believe in this sort of thing. But then, I am evil… 🙂
Nope, it’s not Photoshopped…it’s for real. 🙂 I saw a Discovery channel special about it–oh, must’ve been about two years ago or so.
The machine is a gigantic bucket loader; it’s used for mining coal. I have some more pics of it:
There are some additional pics of it here.
Thanks so much, man. I started reading you a few months ago from a link to you about a poly topic (am poly also) and have been reading ever since.
Nope, it’s not Photoshopped…it’s for real. 🙂 I saw a Discovery channel special about it–oh, must’ve been about two years ago or so.
The machine is a gigantic bucket loader; it’s used for mining coal. I have some more pics of it:
There are some additional pics of it here.
Thanks so much, man. I started reading you a few months ago from a link to you about a poly topic (am poly also) and have been reading ever since.