Hope vs Faith

[Kingston]

Yes all,

I give thanks to all who view these ideas...

I have been thinking about the relation between the words "hope" and "faith" and what role they should play in one's vocabulary.  Especially the Rasta ones.

These words are defined as:

Hope - A feeling that what is wanted will happen

Faith - Unquestioning belief especially in God; complete trust

I feel that many use these two words interchangebly but really, based on definitions, should not.

To me, hope seems to be a position in weakness.  Hope may have the sound of positivity but does it not have the ring of desperation in it?  We one hopes for something, does this person not give away all of his personal power in an attempt to gain something.  "I hope this..." to me sounds as if we have given up and decide to let fate reside in the hands of something or someone else.  It is a move in desperation.  Is this not, in actuality, fear based?

In contrast...

Faith, to me, seems to keep the power within ourselves. True, faith may take more effort to keep but keeping faith in something, hopefully Jah,  is keeping the power within us.  When we put faith in Jah that something will happen, we are  putting the faith in oursleves to make this come true.  Putting faith is Jah is keeping faith in us as we are one in the same.  If we are in essence Jah, what can we not accomplish with faith...Jah can not fail and as such we can not either.

Although hope and faith are mere words,  we should really take note to what we say and what the words we use actually mean.

Using the word "faith" in replace of "hope" should present ourselves in the true Rasta essence as we base our beliefs that Jah is our guide thorugh this journey of life.

I have faith that some will have input to further develop these ideas that are in my head.

Give thanks to sisMenenI...Bless sistren.

Humbly,

..Kingston..

[leslie]

i agree with what was said...what do you think about the words 'truth' and 'trust'?

[Tyehimba]

Hope - A feeling that what is wanted will happen

Faith - Unquestioning belief especially in God; complete trust  

From your definition of faith i can't view faith to be a position of power. From my experience that definition of faith is exactly what mainstream religions try to imbedd in the massess, that they should not question beliefs in God, but should just accept doctines as is; to question is to blaspheme....

I believe that in the process of arriving at the truth is imperative to question and search ourseves deeply and since i certainly don't hold myself to be outside of the sphere of divinity.

I think that true faith can only come from very direct experieces that validate our journey towards absolute truth.
Blind faith encourages us not to question and just to accept because as Christians are apt to say, "some things are just outside the  the realms of human understanding". I would disagree as the only limits to ourself is the limits people put to themselves in their ignorance.  

True faith can only come through self exploration and self knowledge of which experience is an integral part.

[Kebo]

Tyehimba brings up a point that reminds me of what Riane Eisler says in the Chalice and the Blade. She notes that when religion is taken over by male dominated groups, the deity is then pitched as an almighty ruler to which followers must be obedient or else.

This view makes sense to me as it is a creation for a male-dominated agenda, or a dominator agenda in general, to get people to obey and conform, and not question. God then becomes like the father of a household whose word is the authority, and less like a mother who is all-loving and giving and who you respect and believe in endlessly.

I still believe in hope. Hope is that power that keeps us alive in the dark times.  

[Rootsie]

Well said, Ras Tyehimba.  It is people with uncritical or blind faith who fight so ferociously to hold onto their viewpoint and try to bully others into believing as they do out of insecurity.

Somehow I'm reminded of the words the Bible says Jesus speaks on the cross: "Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do."
I am learning we can know what we do when we see what we have done. Both personally and collectively. It is a choice.
We can cave into the idea that humans can only be stupid and degraded, and so it doesn't matter what we do (especially since we're supposedly forgiven anyway) or we can cultivate our intelligence and embrace our divinity and take responsibility for our conduct.

Rootsie

[Kingston]

Thanks to you all for this discussion...

Tyehimba,  I understand what you are are saying in your response but I think you are misinterpreting what my underlying point was.

The definitions I supplied were the first ones found in the Collins English Dictionary I keep beside my computer.

I have never been a fan of blind faith, especially when it come to pressing it on other people.  This was not the idea I was trying to promote.

What I am big on is the knowledge that Jah and I and you are all the same and Jah is present in each of us.  It is with this way of thinking that I can have faith that I will be seen through everything in life no matter what the struggle may contain.  To me at least, this fact holds power and makes strength reside within.

I should have been more clear initially, but hind sight really is 22/20, as I feel in no way that this knowledge is innate rather than learned.  It has taken me 20 odd years to come to this idea that faith is the knowledge that Jah is everpresent in our works and everything we encounter in life is lesson waiting to teach us something we can use in the future.

It is this very idea that promotes questioning rather than blind acceptence for fear of blaspheme.

Are my ideas clearer to you?  Am I wrong to feel that we are actually stating the same ideas?

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Kebo...

I wonder where you place your hope in the dark times you speak of?

I know that when the darkest hours are near my thoughts are of the Lord and it is HIM keeping me safe...this is faith.

To me hope seems outside of divinity as I am not sure who I am talking to when I talk of hope.

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I am simply trying to get us thinking of what it is we are saying and if the words we choose properly communicate the true messages that are our thoughts.  Like everythin else, we are taught to speak and use words and every so often I feel it is needed to readjust our compass to make sure we are still on the right path.  

Give thanks to Leslie and Roosie for your contributions.

Love...

..Kingston..

[sisMenenI]

Yes Kingston...

Your ideas on this reasoning are very well displayed... as the definitions of these two words, hope and faith, speak for themselves really. I have been staying conscious of how I use each of these words and I have now found myself sticking to faith rather than hope. Often when hope is spoken of it is uttered in unconsciousness .. . I am not saying by unconscious people, but in a way of unconsciousness as the term has a good intention, but does leave room for the unknown. While faith has much more of a firmness in the desire being manifested in due time.

Often times I and I are wishing for something in desperation and putting it in the hands of destiny rather than a strong sureness, so hope is befitting in those times. And when God is referred to by I and I Rastafari there is no babylon about it, JAH is the infinite Almighty that is undeniable.
My Webster's dictionary defines:

Faith - allegiance, belief and trust in God, confidence
Hope - desire with expectation of fulfillment

So no matter how dictionaries describe the words, what do they mean to each of us personally? How will we use them and with what intentions? Word + Sound = POWER

BLESSED love
Give thanks for the high reasoning Kingston
~SisMenenI~

[Ras Mandingo]

That's how I interpret this two words ( I beleive that the interpretation of words should be dynamic as they are alive, so the definition of the dictionary is jsut one interpretation pf it, we can enlarge it).

Faith - fidelity

Fidelity to what? To the natural laws that rules the universe and us.

Hope - Concentration of positive energy to strenght the power of the works one is developing. Hope is more related to self-suggestion wich is a very powerful and necessary mind work.

Now, if we can't overstand that we are living Gods/Godesses, then we will live in the imaginatory and blind illusion that Tyehimba was pointing.

Love & Respect Naturally,

Mandingo.

[Kingston]

Fidelity to what? To the natural laws that rules the universe and us.

Mandingo...

I like this.  I like the correlation that you have drawn here.

Positive vibrations...

The word fidelity is often associated with the coupling of a man and woman but it to can be used for this representation.  As a matter of fact, when we a faithful to our other half...married or not....we are faithful to the Most High as they are one in the same.  When we are not faithful to those close to us we are not faithful to Jah.

I belive this is why faith can be used for the relation af man and woman and man and Jah.

Yes this is it.  Give thanks.

..Kingston..