Their names are anger and courage;
anger at the way things are,
and courage to see that they
do not remain that way.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
Faith, belief, meaning, experience, knowledge; these five terms have everything to do with each other. In the same rights, they are also completely distinctive. I must begin with the concept of truth. My experience, my faith, my knowledge, my identity (I use these words selectively) form the belief that there exists a truth which surpasses all we claim to know, to mean, to experience, to believe, and to have faith in. With that context in mind, I can now establish the distinctions and relationships of each word and others as well.
Faith is the active participation of belief in hopes. Hope is believing in unseen things. Both hope and faith necessitate believing. Belief is the application of internal and external action in favor of hopes. Meaning is the perspectives of understanding-- true meaning is different; it is the actuality of definitions and connections as they apply to reality. Experiences are the encounters with reality that differ from person to person and can be translated differently, but are related as they are all connected to reality. Knowledge is the accumulation and containment of accepted facts. Along those lines, another important word to recognize is wisdom. Wisdom enacts knowledge with the power of discernment. "Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right," according to G.K. Chesterton. Each word interludes to a new, equally important word. Each word gives rise to a different, hard-to-describe feeling. Each word is a piece of a bigger, deeper picture--a picture that we can only touch upon, a picture that we often only catch in glimpses at a time. But most of all, each word envelopes the idea of a very balanced yet very antithetical world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience, knowledge--each term is a bondservant to one very important, very understated word, truth. I know that the rendering of this word verifies that I have but one devotion; but it is important to note that this one devotion is the precursor to a thousand deeper thoughts, ideas, adventures, realizations and worlds! What good are faith, belief and hope without the beauty and goodness of truth? What good are experience, meaning and knowledge without the power and wisdom of discernment? “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful” (Johnson 129). You could have all the knowledge in all the world in your possession; yet without the ability to know fully what truth is, you really have nothing. Now you are probably saying, “That’s ridiculous, who can fully know what is truth?!” I agree with you there; no one can ever know the truth in full. We are not capable of any sort of all-knowing, omniscient powers (well at least not those of us who have yet to fall into a vat of toxic waste, or make contact with a radioactive meteor, or reign down from the planet Krypton). Although truth will never be subdued on every level, the battle to ascertain truth can offer a glimpse into something great, into something deep, into something. A great deal of insight may be derived from a Bible chapter that focuses on love as it corresponds directly to truth:
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we will see face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13.11-13)
Another issue you may be pondering comes down to the notion of “why is it all or nothing; can’t faith, belief, hope, experience, meaning and knowledge have some pretty great outcomes without the ‘almighty truth’ coming into the picture?” To that I must reply with the phrase sure; but; so. Sure, faith, belief and hope can drive people to some amazing things; but faith, belief and hope in anything usually orders some sort of action; so faith in truth brings out good, belief in lies brings out bad and hope in almost truth brings out almost good--no matter how it may struggle, almost good can never be good. What’s wrong with “almost”? The problem is that being “almost” about anything will forever tare you away from being “whole” about anything. It is one thing to acknowledge the inability to fully partake in truth; it is quite another to feel appeased with the inability to fully partake in truth. One gives way to progress; the other to digress. One gives way to substance; the other to inanity. One gives way to a thousand of those paths less traveled by; the other to a path met with a thousand barriers. The truth is a powerful thing which, in the end, will out itself. Truth will either enter in gracefully or hit you in the face like a ton of bricks. It will either be the peaceful resolution to a passionate search or the abrupt collision with an unrealized world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience and knowledge will all make you speak; but truth, truth makes you right. While the five terms directly above and together are the onset for argumentation and rhetoric, truth is the onset for beauty and goodness. “If our world was capable of facing truth […] well it might just be a good thing. Sure almost truths can be pleasant, but imagine if we had no need of them at all […] That’s what I wish we could all aspire toward. I do not believe it too idealistic a dream. Perhaps it is. But that just makes it all the more worth fighting for.”
Faith is the active participation of belief in hopes. Hope is believing in unseen things. Both hope and faith necessitate believing. Belief is the application of internal and external action in favor of hopes. Meaning is the perspectives of understanding-- true meaning is different; it is the actuality of definitions and connections as they apply to reality. Experiences are the encounters with reality that differ from person to person and can be translated differently, but are related as they are all connected to reality. Knowledge is the accumulation and containment of accepted facts. Along those lines, another important word to recognize is wisdom. Wisdom enacts knowledge with the power of discernment. "Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right," according to G.K. Chesterton. Each word interludes to a new, equally important word. Each word gives rise to a different, hard-to-describe feeling. Each word is a piece of a bigger, deeper picture--a picture that we can only touch upon, a picture that we often only catch in glimpses at a time. But most of all, each word envelopes the idea of a very balanced yet very antithetical world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience, knowledge--each term is a bondservant to one very important, very understated word, truth. I know that the rendering of this word verifies that I have but one devotion; but it is important to note that this one devotion is the precursor to a thousand deeper thoughts, ideas, adventures, realizations and worlds! What good are faith, belief and hope without the beauty and goodness of truth? What good are experience, meaning and knowledge without the power and wisdom of discernment? “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful” (Johnson 129). You could have all the knowledge in all the world in your possession; yet without the ability to know fully what truth is, you really have nothing. Now you are probably saying, “That’s ridiculous, who can fully know what is truth?!” I agree with you there; no one can ever know the truth in full. We are not capable of any sort of all-knowing, omniscient powers (well at least not those of us who have yet to fall into a vat of toxic waste, or make contact with a radioactive meteor, or reign down from the planet Krypton). Although truth will never be subdued on every level, the battle to ascertain truth can offer a glimpse into something great, into something deep, into something. A great deal of insight may be derived from a Bible chapter that focuses on love as it corresponds directly to truth:
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we will see face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13.11-13)
Another issue you may be pondering comes down to the notion of “why is it all or nothing; can’t faith, belief, hope, experience, meaning and knowledge have some pretty great outcomes without the ‘almighty truth’ coming into the picture?” To that I must reply with the phrase sure; but; so. Sure, faith, belief and hope can drive people to some amazing things; but faith, belief and hope in anything usually orders some sort of action; so faith in truth brings out good, belief in lies brings out bad and hope in almost truth brings out almost good--no matter how it may struggle, almost good can never be good. What’s wrong with “almost”? The problem is that being “almost” about anything will forever tare you away from being “whole” about anything. It is one thing to acknowledge the inability to fully partake in truth; it is quite another to feel appeased with the inability to fully partake in truth. One gives way to progress; the other to digress. One gives way to substance; the other to inanity. One gives way to a thousand of those paths less traveled by; the other to a path met with a thousand barriers. The truth is a powerful thing which, in the end, will out itself. Truth will either enter in gracefully or hit you in the face like a ton of bricks. It will either be the peaceful resolution to a passionate search or the abrupt collision with an unrealized world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience and knowledge will all make you speak; but truth, truth makes you right. While the five terms directly above and together are the onset for argumentation and rhetoric, truth is the onset for beauty and goodness. “If our world was capable of facing truth […] well it might just be a good thing. Sure almost truths can be pleasant, but imagine if we had no need of them at all […] That’s what I wish we could all aspire toward. I do not believe it too idealistic a dream. Perhaps it is. But that just makes it all the more worth fighting for.”
Works Cited
Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. London: Penguin, 1989.
The NIV Study Bible. Kenneth Barker, gen. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.
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