FAITH is a proxy for reason — to expose yourself to UNKNOWN
You rarely have all the data, all the reasons to do something
Therefore you can’t perfectly REASONABLY articulate why you should DO something different, try something new
I mean, of course you don’t have all the data about the unknown
That is the VERY ESSENCE of the unknown
All that you know is that it could be very good, very bad, or even very boring
Of course you could, and should, use reason anyway
You should calculate the potential risks and rewards
Then choose to increase your exposure to unknown
In a measured way
But we’re not very good at math, are we?
The concept, the word we use instead — is FAITH
You have faith in someone
You have faith good things will come of this
You have faith that in persistence you shall overcome
You have faith fortunes will turn in your favour
You have faith going there could be of benefit
FAITH here is merely proxy for all the reasons which you could list
Could calculate
But perhaps you merely intuit
And intuition is nothing else but just a lot of data, that you’re not even particularly consciously aware of
Perhaps you could recall it and list it completely — perhaps not
Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
Just because it’s not entirely tangible doesn’t mean it’s wrong, or non-existent
Of course, this same “faith” is a harbinger of DELUSION
Because the fact that you opt out of verifying your reasons with THE REASON — makes you vulnerable to half-truths, hopes, biases, fallacies, delusions indeed
So what was perfectly reasonable in terms of being aligned with your conscious and subconscious experiences, manifesting in a sense of HAVING FAITH…
…is now merely a buzzword used for whitewashing one’s delusions, dogmas, biases, convictions
This is the pejorative meaning of the word faith
I believe you should have FAITH
A kind of meta-alignment of your entire conscious and unconscious, rational and intuitive, intellectual and emotional systems
You should guardrail it with reason, however
In particular with epistemic humility
It’s not as important that you’re precisely right — as that you’re not STUBBORNLY WRONG
You’ll still find the way to your target by being roughly accurate, and intelligently course-correcting
You won’t find your way however if you double-down each step on your delusions, as you tread closer and closer to the abyss.
(And abyss is not merely NOT your target — it’s the end of all targets)
Faith’s greatest danger is in it replacing reason — instead of complementing it