When a light bulb dies, the current of electricity still continues. But we have to trust that the electricity is still there, even though we might be standing in the dark until a fresh light bulb can be found and inserted into the lamp. Sometimes that takes a lot of faith. And I’m not a big one for having faith. I was raised with the idea that we have to do things for ourselves, not to put our faith in someone else or somewhere else. Since the only person I could really trust was myself, when I lost faith in myself, it was pretty excruciating. But I had an experience recently that opened me to a different way of looking at faith. Instead of seeing it as something unintelligent, a way of not inquiring into truth, I realized it’s the reverse. It’s sensing the presence of ongoingness. Ongoing friendships, ancestors, hope, life, and consciousness with every breath–just as we know the power is still on even when a light bulb goes out. There’s no need to despair! Two circuits exist in our experience of being alive: the physical being (bulb) and the light being (energy source). I have to let go of the idea that it’s all up to me—my happiness, my fortune, my success—and instead to have faith that my source of energy—whatever Name we want to call it—is always present. It’s been a tremendously empowering, peaceful, blissful realization! How can you feel this yourself, you ask? Where does faith begin? What can you trust absolutely, with your whole heart? Start with this: That you are beloved by so many and by so much—that’s the most important one. Your family, friends, dog or cat, trees, mountains, people who have died, oceans, stars, angels … are all resoundingly saying, over and over: You are loved. You are loved. You are so beloved. Believe that.
