Different Perspectives on the Meaning of Faith

I discovered an American Public Media episode, "The Meaning of Faith" (on the program Speaking of Faith), which includes 4 guests representing 4 different religious perspectives: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

Each guest grapples with the meaning of faith. It's a fantastic way to spend way to spend 52 minutes - I highly urge you to listen when you have the time.

Meanwhile, here are a few snippets to ponder and to entice you:

• Faith is the "courage to step forward into the unknown" and "admit that we don't know", yet to still have an "open-hearted participation in life" [this is my favorite definition]
  
• Faith is "like a journey" and "an unfolding of the heart that's based on our love for ourselves and being able to reach out to others and let others reach out to us, to have a bigger picture of life where there's a sense of belonging and connection instead of feeling so alone and apart." [this is my other favorite]
  
• Doubt and questioning are built into faith.
• The opposite of faith is despair, not doubt.
• When we hold onto our beliefs too tightly, they do not take us on to a place of greater faith.
• Faith is "bigger than belief or not belief."
• Rather, faith is "an abiding trust that the way things are working out is part of something bigger and probably incomprehensible." [this rings most closely to how I've thought of faith over the years]
  
• Faith follows action.
• "Our commonality comes from passionately clinging to our uniqueness and our individuality and our difference."
• "Faith is a verb", "it's really an action word, faith is."
• Faith speaks to "a belief and an interest in matters that are spiritual rather than the institution and creeds that you associate with religion."
• "People of faith and spiritual communities understand that everyone is a child of God"