I have been reflecting a lot about faith in the last few days. I do not mean religion. I have been thinking about it in terms of trust/belief/conviction or confidence. It is something in the mind but can do wonders outside of the mind. Warning: This post is a rambling so read it only if you do not have much to do.
In my observation, if you have a strong faith in accomplishing something or that some event would definitely happen, it indeed happens. The universe does conspire to help you accomplish your vision.
We have often heard Faith can move mountains which is to say that if one has faith in something, he or she can achieve it. In high school, one of my teachers told us a story which has stuck with me till today. It is about this man who wanted to challenge the saying- Faith can move mountains. There was a mountain range which could be viewed from his bedroom window. He declared, "I have all the faith in the world, let us see if those mountains will move today." Every hour, he would peep outside his window to see if the mountains moved. At the end of the day, he mentioned to all those around him, "I had the faith, but the mountains did not move. I checked myself every hour if they moved but nothing happened. Looks like faith does not move mountains after all." One old wise man in his audience said, "If you had the faith that the mountains would move, you would never check if they moved. You checked because you did not have faith." This story was so wise and had a lot of truth. Sometimes, in our personal lives as well, we think or hope some events to take place or accomplish something difficult, but if we do not believe strongly in ourselves or the event, it is not very likely that it would materialise.
The story, The Last Leaf by O. Henry also revolves around a similar theme. SPOILER AHEAD.
For those who do not know this story, it is a story about a sick girl who looks at a plant outside her window and relates her health condition to that of the plant. Everyday, there would be some leaves that the plant would shed; and with every shedding of the leaves, she thought her health deteriorated further. One day, she notices that there is only one last leaf remaining. She is very concerned that when the last leaf sheds, she will be no more. Her friend sees her concern and contacts an artist and requests him to paint a leaf on the plant, so that her friend's belief in life remains. He agrees to it. The night is very dark coupled with heavy rains and thunderstorms. She is extremely worried that it could be the last day of her life and spends the night hoping that the leaf does not shed. Meanwhile, the artist is hard at work under very testing circumstances. He battles on and completes painting the leaf on the plant. The following morning, when the girl opens her eyes, she is cheerful and her joy new no bounds to see the leaf intact. She conveys her joy to her friend that her faith in live is restored. Her friend gently breaks to her the reality of the leaf and that the artist died in the bad weather after painting the leaf.
As a child, I read a true story in Tinkle comics, sent in by one of their young readers. On a dark stormy night, a young boy of around 9 years was frightened of the thunder and lightning. There was a power breakdown too. He was unable to sleep due to fear. He did not want to appear timid to his parents. He believed that if he held on to the Bible, he will survive the night and will remain safe. He gropes for the Bible in the dark and finally finds the book. He holds it close to his chest and finds this energy and courage that he can make it through the night and gradually fell in to a deep slumber. When he wakes up the next morning, he notices that the book he held so close to him all night was not the Bible, but a dictionary. It was just his faith that holding the Bible close to him will protect him that actually saw him through the night.
The last anecdote is from my personal life. Someone I knew was battling a life threatening disease. He was treated at a hospital and believed that he was responding well to the treatment. He was very spirited and spoke to his visitors about returning home soon. He could walk about and would enjoy watching TV and have interesting conversations with his family. All this until the day when the doctors told him that he was not really responding to any treatment and would not survive for long. This news really shattered his faith and destroyed his spirit. In a day, the person found himself to be bed-ridden, not able to eat or walk or talk to people. He passed away, in a week's time. When discussing the doctors, they said that he was fighting the disease with all his might but they did not think, the news would deteriorate his health so quickly. They thought he had a few months.
I do not know why I am narrating these stories and anecdotes or if I am conveying them well enough. When I sat down and reflected on Faith, all these came rushing to my mind and I just thought of penning them down on this blog.
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