One of the first things I was taught when I ventured into Buddhist practice was to be mindful of mind. This is no easy task. One quickly discovers that  thoughts are enticing, alluring, and in no time at all drag you off into a whole scenario, when the intent was simply to let the thoughts drift by like clouds.

But over time, mindfulness improves until you see not only the many thoughts that drift by and the temptation to follow each, but as you learn to let them drift, patterns emerge, the way you often think. Equally important is to be mindful of how we talk about modes of thinking.

In conversations recently, I realized that language confusion often arises because people are using imprecise language for their modes of thinking. The words they’re using may be close in meaning but not quite right.

For instance, I caught myself saying I believed something to be true, when in fact I did not believe it but trusted that it was probably true. There is a difference, and I’d like to hold up four modes of thinking that we need to be especially mindful of and how we talk about them with others.

The modes of thinking I’m referring to are: Knowing; Trusting, Believing, and Faith.

Knowing:  We know something when we have firsthand experience with it and can have others verify it. For instance, I know the street I live on is blocked at one end because I have seen it for myself. Additionally, this can be verified by talking to neighbors who see the same thing.

Trusting: We trust, or think,  something to be true when the information we have has come from a reliable source, and other reliable sources have verified that information. For instance, I don’t know the Sun is 98 million miles from Earth because I didn’t do any measurements myself and have someone verify them. However, I do trust that enough qualified astronomers have done this and verified the information with each other, so I consider the information reliable and is probably true.

Note: There isn’t emotional attachment in trusting that information is likely true. If scientists announce they now have a more accurate way of measuring the Sun’s distance, and they verify it with each other that’s it’s really 104 million miles away, I have no problem accepting the new number. This happens a lot in science, as the process of discovery. And, of course, in every other area of life as well.

Believing: When we believe something is true, we are certain, even though there isn’t personal, variable experience. Otherwise, we would know it. Additionally, when we believe, there is often emotional attachment to the issue, driving a need, desire, or want for it to be so. Belief is also often formed on other people’s beliefs, or opinions, which is based on belief before that and so on. Often belief comes about as a habit.

Faith: Faith is closely related to belief, and often confused with trust. While belief refers to the content of what one wants to be true, faith is the determination to hold to the belief. Faith is also emotionally driven, often by fear, or by desire.

How faith and trust get mixed up are like this. My manager is wonderful, and I trust that she will be there for me to help me prioritize my work load if I need it, to help me with difficult people, and to make me laugh. Now I could say I have faith she’ll be there for me. But that would be incorrect. I trust she will be there for me. It’s trust because it’s based on past experience, experience which is verifiable by the people we have worked with.

With both trust and faith you can end up being dead wrong. However, with trust you accept you are wrong and adjust accordingly. With faith, there is denial because it’s enforced by the emotion of wanting it to be true, and may also be driven by other psychological factors, such as fear. Faith can even become more determined in the face of evidence that what you believe is incorrect.

I realize people may have  different nuances to the definitions of these words. My point really is that it’s immensely beneficial to be mindful of your modes of thinking, how many of them are out of habit, how many are well thought out and considered, how willing you are to change your mind, and how easy or difficult it is to be wrong.

Additionally, be mindful of your speech. Notice how frequently you say you believe something, then examine exactly what that belief is based on, how much emotion is driving it, is there anything in there that can be known or verified?  Are your beliefs worth keeping, or can you drop them, move them into simple opinion, possibly due to change? Does the idea of questioning or giving up a belief frighten you?

Do we need faith for anything? Do you mean faith, or do you mean you have trust in certain areas, trust you realize could be incorrectly placed?

I found when I really became mindful to my modes of thinking and the language I communicated about them, I discovered I needed to continually reassess,examine my own opinions, and assumptions. I opened more to being wrong, which opened new doors to discovery.

And sometimes, it’s just best to say, I don’t know!

Tags: belief, faith, knowing, thinking, trust

This entry was posted on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 12:28 am and is filed under beliefs, Buddhism, Concepts, Labels, Mind. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.