Those who are in doubt will always live in fear. Those
that live in faith will know no fear!
Doubt is not the work of a curious or
inquisitive mind. It is the product of a mind that refuses to trust. Deep
beneath the layers of mistrust lie past experiences. It is in these experiences
that trust could have been eroded, because none of us really is born with
doubt, fear, mistrust embedded in us. It is years of living in an environment
of mistrust that leads people not to have faith. There's an old Malayalam (South-Indian
language) saying that goes, “A cat that once falls in a tub of hot water will
never trust water in the future!”. The cat was not born to hate water or with a
phobia for water. But its experience of falling in the hot water tub made it
wary and untrusting of water.
So are we. You and me. Our experience of
dealing with someone defines our level of trust with them. When we go through
Life's myriad experiences, we develop attitudes to Life, based on them. A
person who has lost a lot of money will not trust anyone with anything
material. Someone who has had too many health challenges will never trust
doctors and hospitals. Someone who has had a few bad relationships, will not
readily trust the institution of marriage. And so on. But when we live each moment
in doubt, in fear, without trust__of something or the other__we are living a
shackled, imprisoned Life. We are created to be free. Live free. We were always
liberated. But we are burdened by the weight of our doubts and fears. To break
free, we must learn, yes, learn,
to move on. To treat each experience as an individual event and not generalize.
If one person cheated you of money, it doesn't mean all of humanity are frauds.
If one bad relationship caused you grief, it doesn't mean you can't have another.
If your plane had a bad landing or you survived a crash, it doesn't mean you
should stop flying.
The venerable Khalil Gibran (1883~1931), the Lebanese
American writer, demystifies doubt and faith thus: “Doubt is a pain too lonely
to know that faith is its twin brother.” To move from doubt and fear and to
embrace faith, simply trust Life. Let go. Make that
bungee jump. If you haven't come crashing down and died yet, it means you are
flying. And what if you die? Don't worry, don't fear, because you will not even
know it when you die!
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