How do we trust in a life that is inherently unpredictable, one that leads to inevitable suffering and certain death? Trust, or faith in what is, is hard to come by these days. “The state of this country is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said the woman in Pennsylvania on her way to the polling station. A close friend recently told me, “AI is going to ruin the world.” When people get decidedly, whole-heartedly gloomy, a basic confidence in the Way is lost. People default to an Armageddon attitude and a divisive mind. Without some kind of direct experience of the ineffable, the world may seem out to get you.
To embody faith requires spending time with that which has no shape, size or color. It requires coming to know that which can never be posted on Tik Tok or Instagram. The more time you spend with the inexpressible and realize that it is what fuels this marvelous, wild, jubilant, contentious creation, the less the world has its hooks in you. Without touching the ground of emptiness, without a heart connection to the immeasurable, everything appears as topsy turvy.
When you look long and hard inside, you will encounter the source. “Turn the lantern on, look at your own feet,” goes the old Chinese proverb. While you walk the road of continuous change remain unmoving inside.
It is paradoxical if not absurd to trust in uncertainty. But only then can you drop the harried doubt and despair that confine you, move through the world in confidence, and take your place in the great unfolding.
