Faith in Everything but Ourselves
Place Your Faith Where It Makes a Difference
Welcome to the YouTopian Journey, a Substack featured publication. Each week I will be sharing unique wisdom that can help you in the daily battles that we must all fight in the game of life. This week we discuss why we need to have faith in ourselves!
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A CRISIS OF FAITH IN OURSELVES
“Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains, although I do not know who assumed it could. But it can put mountains where there are none.”-Friedrich Nietzsche
Of the many resources that we compete for, none are more powerful, nor rarer, than faith.
It is through faith that great things can happen. Through faith, we give organizations, companies, and people a mandate. It is our faith that people seek.
Faith in abilities.
Faith in resources.
Faith in the unlimited possibilities that await.
However, there is a crisis of faith in society. This crisis is one of a truly personal nature. After all, we have faith in everything else except where it truly matters.
We have faith in our institutions, which are slow and archaic.
We have faith in our teachers, hoping they will implant the right knowledge to their students.
We have faith in other people, hoping that they are able to do the right thing.
We have faith in leaders, expecting that they will serve our interests and not their own.
We have faith in our managers and bosses, anticipating that they will promote us and give us the title and compensation we deserve.
We have faith in our beliefs, giving ourselves up to them with the hope that our faith is rewarded.
But when it comes to the faith in ourselves, in our own abilities, we are sorely lacking. Our faith in everything else, which may seem unshakeable, is nowhere to be found when it comes to our potentialities and powers.
Why is this the case?
Something has changed us. Something has crept into our minds and formed halls of hesitation and fields of doubt. We are easily able to put our faith in another person and their promises (which may seem impossible to achieve), but have become incapable of doing this for ourselves.
We are our own worst critics and biggest doubters, when the opposite should be the truth. Whereas others may put their faith in us, we find it impossible to put our own faith in ourselves.
We come up with excuses before we even begin.
We lack the resources.
We lack the experience.
We lack the education.
We lack the connections.
We lack the intelligence.
We lack the confidence.
Ultimately, we lack the ability to pursue something meaningful in the face of what others may think of us.
This is foolish and must be stopped, before it is too late.
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”–Seneca
Understand that you are capable of greatness. Every goal and desire you have is possible and achievable. But sadly, the majority of the time these goals and desires will wither away within your mind. You need to have faith in yourself to bring them to reality.
You need to have faith in you own abilities and potential.
Without faith in yourself, nothing will happen.
We have too many empty husks, too many drones, too many docile people who blindly follow the masses.
We do not need another.
We need people who have faith in themselves, their abilities, their goals, and their dreams.
Once tapped into, faith is a powerful force. It allows you to keep moving when anyone else would quit. It gives you the power to aim high and when you miss (believe me, you will), it is faith that will provide you the resilience to dust yourself off and try again.
And again.
Because success and victory do not come easy. If they do, then you aren’t living up to your potential. You aren’t aiming high enough. You aren’t dreaming big enough.
It is faith in yourself and your abilities that keeps you going.
So have faith.
And transform your life for the better.
“In the intelligent man faith is the only remedy for anguish. The fool is cured by “reason,” “progress,” alcohol, work.”-Nicolás Gómez Dávila
FAITH MAKES OR BREAKS YOU
“I do not know if I shall make progress, but I prefer to lack success rather than to lack faith.”-Seneca
Throughout history, there are countless people who overcame impossible and downright hopeless situations. This wasn’t done via resources, the cavalry coming to the rescue, or divine intervention. It was the result of faith.
Faith in themselves.
Faith in others.
Faith in their own abilities.
Faith in their goals.
They may have lacked everything, but they weren’t lacking in their faith.
Neither can you.
Faith is the voice that says I will make it. It is the motivation that energizes your muscles, making you press forward when you feel that your strength is gone. It is the mantra that is repeated within your mind, keeping you on the path and moving forward.
This is why it is so important.
You have something legitimate that you want to bring to life, to accomplish and achieve. It may be difficult for you and it may seem downright impossible for others. This should not stop you from going after it.
Those lacking faith will give in and give up. They will weigh the pros and cons, coming to believe that nothing of that magnitude can be achieved. They will put it on the back burner and come back to it at a later time. Sadly, they rarely do.
Now the individual motivated by faith is different. They are more powerful than the common person. They have deep energies within them that will allow them to not only engage in risky behavior, but to keep trying when they fail.
Again, and again.
For what seems like forever.
Until the mountain is climbed. Until the wall is broken through. Until the siege is lifted. Until the goal is reached.
Something must keep one going forward. Something must energize the body and the mind. Something must say yes when everyone and everything says no.
That is faith.
Taking the step forward when others would shudder at the thought. Jumping across the gap when others would shirk at the obstacle. Believing in yourself when you are the only one. Staying positive when the world is negative. Continuing to hope when hope has become an impossibility.
That is the power of faith in yourself.
That is the power that will change your life.
You have this power.
Use it!
“All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.”-Miyamoto Musashi
A LEAP IS REQUIRED
“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”-St. Augustine of Hippo
The difference between the person making it happen, watching it happen, and wondering what happened is simple.
It isn’t resources, connections, dreams, desires, or even unique ideas.
It isn’t the degree from the prestigious school or the prominent position in a major company.
It isn’t the rewards and accolades.
It sure as hell isn’t the follower counts.
It is the leap.
The leap of faith.
True success is always a leap of faith. Make no mistake about it. You’re faced with the unknown outcome, one that seems like a sheer impossibility to everyone.
Everyone but you.
You know you have something that you are capable of achieving, something that you can transmute from a desire in your mind to something tangible in reality. But in order to obtain it, there is a price that must be paid. This price is the leap of faith.
All dreamers face the leap.
Even you.
The creator is faced with the blank page.
The artist is faced with the blank canvass.
The student is faced with the blank future.
The actor is faced with the blank role.
The entrepreneur is faced with the blank career.
And so on.
This vast blankness can only be filled, only addressed, by the leap of faith.
This is quite possibly the most difficult thing one can do.
You will have no allies. No supporters. No resources. Nothing but a belief in yourself and your future goal. This belief is what fills the void of the unknown. This is precisely why so few people engage in the leap. It is frightening, even insane. They simply cannot stomach the notion of filling in the darkness of the void. They don’t believe that they are truly capable of undertaking such a task.
The leap of faith is so difficult because it requires a degree of danger and risk and this requirement is too high of a price for the multitude to pay. It is far easier and even sane to play it safe, to stick to what one has, to remain in the light, and to cling to one’s own mediocrity as if it was a life vest. No risks being taken and no rewards received. No actions being taken and no changes that come as a result of those actions. The leap of faith is the opposite of their ideals. It is the opposite of their entire being.
Do not let it be the opposite of yours.
Trust yourself. Believe in yourself. Understand yourself.
Realize that it is only through taking this leap of faith that the future you desire can be obtained.
The sooner you take it, the better.
The leap of faith awaits you.
Are you ready?
“The devotion of the greatest is to encounter risk and danger and play dice for death.”-Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
A PERSONAL NOTE
I found life most difficult, upsetting, and challenging when my faith in myself, my abilities, and my dreams began to wane. However, I found life most rewarding when my faith was fully restored. Keep the faith!
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ONE LAST THING
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I’m Shaun Gold and if you are reading this, you are already on your journey. Catch you next week.
Yes! Having faith to keep going is critical!
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