Faith: what do you believe in?

 Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing; or the observance of an obligation from loyalty; or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement; or a belief not based on proof; or it may refer to a particular system of religious belief, such as in which faith is confidence based on some degree of warrant. The term 'faith' has numerous connotations and is used in different ways, often depending on context.

The English word faith is thought to date from 1200–50, from the Middle English feith, via Anglo-French fed, Old French feid, feit from Latin fidem, accusative of fidēs (trust), akin to fīdere (to trust).

A 'five-letter' word that keeps recurring in the realm of human existence. What we believe in; or, simply put 'what we think is true'. People share different views on the meaning of faith and thus apply it according to this perception.Predictably, they act according to this perception and hold on to it as the absolute truth regardless of the point of view of any other person.

Faith, despite what view it is, is a process and also the product of a process. This is because, a person's environment which includes his encounters, challenges, successes, defeats and even his relationship with his fellow species; and importantly his understanding of these as it affects a supernatural being he believes is higher than him in capabilities.

 James W. Fowler (1940-2015) proposes a series of stages of faith-development (or spiritual development) across the human life-span. His stages relate closely to the work of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg regarding aspects of psychological development in children and adults. Fowler defines faith as an activity of trusting, committing, and relating to the world based on a set of assumptions of how one is related to others and the world.

     STAGES OF FAITH

*Intuitive-Projective: a stage of confusion and of high impressionability through stories and rituals. (Pre-school period)

*Mythic-Literal: a stage where provided information is accepted in order to conform with social norms. (School-going period)

*Synthetic-Conventional: In this stage the faith acquired is concreted in the belief system with the forgoing of personification and replacement with authority in individuals or groups that represent one's beliefs. (Early-late adolescence)

*Individuative-Reflective: In this stage the individual critically analyzes adopted and accepted faith with existing systems of faith. Disillusion or strengthening of faith happens in this stage. Based on needs, experiences and paradoxes. (Early adulthood)

*Conjunctive faith: In this stage people realize the limits of logic and, facing the paradoxes or transcendence of life, accept the "mystery of life" and often return to the sacred stories and symbols of the pre-acquired or re-adopted faith system. This stage is called negotiated settling in life. (Mid-life)

*Universalizing faith: This is the "enlightenment" stage where the individual comes out of all the existing systems of faith and lives life with universal principles of compassion and love and in service to others for upliftment, without worries and doubt. (Middle - late adulthood (45-65yrs and plus)

No hard-and-fast rule requires individuals pursuing faith to go through all six stages. There is a high probability for individuals to be content and fixed in a particular stage for a lifetime; stages from 2-5 are such stages. Stage 6 is the summit of faith development. This state is often[quantify] considered as "not fully" attainable.Many social scientific theories have tried to explain the concept of faith through philosophers such as Sigmond Freud and a number of others. 
 

But whatever it is, faith or believe (in supernaturals) is broadly of two castes; 'Believers' and 'Unbelievers'. While believers are said to be those who holds a view to be true, unbelievers are those who sees the contrary as absolute truth.
The stunning similarity among believers and their views and the resultant difference when compared with those regarded as the unbelievers suggest a totally different perception of a fact. What poses a mystery is; what is the fact?

 While the Christians and Muslims and traditional worshipers believes in a being who is far capable and knowledgeable than them, they regard the atheist who believes not in supernatural beings as the unbelievers.
Only one thing can determine who is really a believer and who isn't;"fact"!.

"Christians hold that their faith does good, but other faiths do harm. At any rate, they hold this about the communist faith. What I wish to maintain is that all faiths do harm. We may define “faith” as a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of “faith.” We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions. Christians have faith in the Resurrection; communists have faith in Marx’s Theory of Value. Neither faith can be defended rationally, and each therefore is defended by propaganda and, if necessary, by war".(will faith cure our troubles) 

 The unknown mystery which when unravelled bears the fact. If really there isn't a supernatural being as thought, then the 'worshipers' are the unbelievers, on the other hand, if there is, then the atheists are the non-believers.
 Even though the mystery is far from clarity and no way near exposure, faith a culture of high esteem,as it determines religion which is a top ranking aspect of every culture.
Now; what do you believe in, what's your faith, and why do you think it's the absolute truth?
Reference:Wikipedia

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