The Role of Faith in Meditation
“Except for silence, all else is imagination.”
For the last decade, the above quote resonated deeply with me. As a meditator and ‘seeker of truth’ it seemed to outline a very simple path to realization; release all beliefs, all preferences, all ideas—all mental objects—and all that will remain is the simple, direct, naked truth. And as they say, that truth will set you free.
There is definitely something to be said for this.
True inner silence is often lacking in spiritual and religious communities. We read, we ‘worship’, we go through the motions and share quotes and book titles and talk about the divine and chakras and meditation beads—but few and far between are those who actually devote their lives to, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’
This type of stillness is a powerful, illuminating practice. But recently, life is showing me that even a life devoted to this falls short if it doesn’t include some form of faith. Faith in God or universal consciousness, faith the universe itself, faith in what is—but faith in something.
For a decade, it seemed that ‘faith’, at least as we conventionally view it, was a barrier to this. It was an add-on to reality that simply increased the dust of delusion and self-projection on the mirror of the mind. How could this dust not keep us from seeing the true reflection of ultimate reality as it is?
Yet, the further I get on this journey, the more I see that true realization is often the fruit of faith. I see that it is actually by faith that we are able to let go of ‘imagination’ and rest in silence. After all, it’s easy to talk about the need for trust and acceptance, surrender and letting go—even a novice meditator understands the need for these—but without faith, who completely pours themselves out and does so?