From Our Member, Bobbie Cleave

     The theme “trust” for the month of February at UU, is a very interesting word. Sometimes it is interchanged with the word “faith.” 
 
     In the dictionary, faith is called the “substance of hope,” a belief in something bigger than yourself. Faith requires no evidence, whereas trust is based on evidence.
 
     Some call faith a noun and trust a verb, or action. Trust is called the core conviction of judgment based on knowledge, instinct and experience.
 
     Some say the word faith has been overused and exploited. Blind faith is said to be faith without any exploration or seeking of evidence. This can be dangerous.
 
     True faith is deep only when a person has found this belief through personal questioning and exploration. Instead of accepting what we have been taught, we come to question what we are told and see for ourselves if it is true. This kind of faith requires a deep self-exploration and trust in oneself. This is the kind of trust and faith we need in this world today.
 
     A desire to learn about this complicated world and the time to sit quietly by oneself and contemplate what the truth might be. Trust comes from knowing. We all have an innate sense of what is true. What we need is time to sit quietly and watch our thoughts, get to know our own reactions, and watch these with detachment.
 
     This is what the very important practices of meditation and mindfulness are all about. Getting to know and trust the self. That then leads to trust of the outer world, or learning what can be trusted. Setting aside time to be quiet and to watch and to listen.
 
     These practices are sorely lacking in today’s world. We also need time to be out in this amazing natural and wild world, out in this beautiful unspoiled planet. This is what can build trust and lessen fear. We begin to know we can meet all the challenges we face today with strength and calm. We believe too, in the fact that something way bigger is going on, beyond this beautiful small planet we live on. We open up more fully to the fact that there is so much we don’t know and we face life with an open and humble mind. We are not so inflexible and fixed. Not so sure.
 
     Here is a meditation/song from Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh that expresses the safe and trusting place we can get to with the practice:
 
     “Breathing in, I go back to the island within myself. There are beautiful trees within the island, there are clear streams of water, there are birds. Sunshine and fresh air. Breathing out, I feel safe. I enjoy going back to my island.” 
 
~Bobbie Cleave, MS, MEd

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