Faith: How Necessary is It on the Spiritual Path? (Karl Krumins)

Many in the spiritual traditions have weighed in on the subject of faith. We are already deeply immersed in the world of belief and faith based on cultural assumptions that we take for granted.  What distinctions can be made between faith and belief? We can consider faith in terms of people who are faithful, having faith in something, or as a state of being. Do we have faith in practice, teachers, God, the process, ourselves? Confusion can be seen as a gift. While it is difficult to stay in the field of ambiguity and doubt, this can be precious on the path. Unanswered questions can be a lot more valuable than answers. Once we test something and get a result, then we know it. The results of doing this may end up to something like faith. When an experience is gone, what do we have? Karl has been a spiritual practitioner for forty years. He lived in India for seven years and has a passion for considering the essential similarities of spiritual traditions.