I think faith is something that is several levels higher than belief, not easily noticeable, and has a certain flexibility, but the "fundamentals" and definitions of it do not change much.
The magical effect of this thing is not on the surface, but inside.
Its "effectiveness" is not something that can be seen in the short term, but the result of long-term execution.
Especially when facing the temptation of interests and life-or-death decisions, a person's faith can be seen most clearly.
Unfortunately, before the environment changed, many people relied on faith to support their 996 work culture, internal competition, and striving.
Nowadays, when it comes to faith, it is just a sigh, or even disdain and indignation.
- The truly faithful are few, and most people's faith is something external.
Emerson once said:
There are two things that I detest: talented people without faith and ignorant people full of faith.
These two types of people make up a large proportion of society.
The former corresponds to sophisticated selfish individuals who destroy fairness, and the detestable "minority profiteers," while the latter is a group of blindly following people.
Sadly, the former often manipulates and deceives the latter.
And what they gain is not resistance and rejection from the latter, but rather the latter becoming supporters of the former, becoming a passionate group of fans who cheer for the former.
The cruelty and interesting aspect of this society is that the vast majority of people do not have faith, only belief.
And their belief is also "off track." They can sway, have double standards, have different arguments in different situations, and argue unreasonably.
I don't know if this is a trend or a helplessness and sadness.
Many people's so-called faith is highly dependent on external things.
They pursue not being good themselves, but being better than the people around them.
Not having money themselves, but having more money than the people around them.
They don't care if they are happy or not, but they passionately and fervently chase after something that others perceive as making them happy.
If others think I'm awesome, I'm rich, and I'm happy, then even if I'm miserable in real life, my life is considered stable and I've won, I have face.
In reality, most people's faith is just paper-thin, easily broken and shattered.
Their main focus is on where there is profit. They go wherever there is profit. They don't care about sincerity, seriousness, or principles. They say that those who have faith are fools, idealists, and naive.
- The reason for the collapse of faith is that the truth has been concealed.
There is a lyric that goes, "The outside world is wonderful, the outside world is helpless."
I believe that the vast majority of people, when they were young, had a perception that there are many opportunities and our future is full of possibilities.
However, is it really like that?
After I graduated from graduate school, when I talked about the various difficulties I encountered in finding a job, many people would be surprised and say:
A master's degree from a prestigious university, and it's difficult to find a job? How is that possible?
I was speechless. In their eyes, more than ten years ago, if you graduated from a prestigious university, you were a prodigy, or at least your opportunities were abundant, and the doors of various well-known companies were wide open to you.
However, I have to say, if you are not in that position, you will never understand the feelings of the person involved.
If you want a stable job, even if your major is just one word off, you will be screened out, and you won't have that opportunity.
You will be limited by your background, education, major, age, appearance, height, environment, and other people's "arrangements."
So I want to say that the reason why many people's faith collapses is that the truth has been concealed.
You think you have many opportunities, but it's not the case at all.
Any good opportunity has various "barriers" set up to screen you out, and you always fall short. You think it's because of your lack of ability.
And our society is a society with a very broad sinking market.
The path to move up is extremely difficult and not transparent enough, while the path to move down may not require you to walk at all.
You think your future is promising just because those spiritual consumables, those "beliefs," are created by capital to feed your impoverished brain, to continue to be consumed and exploited.
Your poverty is designed, and so is your faith.
When you have worked hard in a circle and realize that you have entered a strange loop, a huge scam, your faith naturally collapses.
- The belief that can sustain your vitality is the true belief.
Some people say that a person is actually a combination of over 100 pounds of flesh and a bunch of ideas.
Of course, ideas include beliefs.
In fact, the kind of belief you have often determines the kind of life you will live.
Because people have their own magnetic field, if your magnetic field is polluted, you will attract things that are likely to be polluted and unreliable.
If your magnetic field is clean, you will attract people and things that can appreciate you and resonate with you.
Roughly speaking, belief is like a feather duster that can help you brush away the dust on your soul at any time.
Belief is when someone threatens you with a gun, and even if you are scared, you still dare to persist in that shining thing.
In fact, the set of teachings we have always been taught is not very meaningful in real life.
The only thing that can make us survive and thrive, that can stabilize our core, is the belief that can sustain our vitality, the thing that will never change.