Faith and Doubt Live in the Same House
Published on April 30, 2014
Faith and doubt live in the same house.
The cornerstone of all personal and professional growth comes down to this. Belief or doubt. Whatever you believe you are good at generally turns out well. Whatever you doubt generally does not turn out so well. "I really don't think I am a good public speaker and in fact I'm afraid of it" says the man; and so the speech goes poorly, stuttering and stammering and losing his way. "I am a great parent" says the woman and the child grows up tall and straight with passion and kindness and wisdom. What I have learned over the years and am certain of today is that it is totally possible to turn any doubt into a belief. When you do this things will then turn out pretty well. While this is the process necessary to succeed it is also critical to know the realities of human frailty and what we can expect along the way. I was telling a client who was trying to overcome a challenge about an experience I had a few years back. I happened to be flipping through channels one night and caught a Pastor on the Larry King show. They were talking about American politics and challenges facing the president and such. I was only half listening but what caught my ear was this. Larry asked him about overcoming challenges and hardship and the Pastor said, "The presence of doubt does not mean the absence of faith". What a fabulous statement. How much truth is wrapped up in just those 10 words? It is so important to know that while on the road to transforming doubt into belief, your faith in the process will often and regularly be challenged by doubt. The doubt you should know is not doubt you were born with. This doubt was been put there by the world through a lifetime of experiences and interactions. At the end of the movie a Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe, he was walking down the stairs with his therapist and the therapist turned and asked, "Do you still hear the voices John" (he was a schizophrenic) to which he replied, "Yes, but I've made peace with them". That's the best we can hope for. To know those voices of doubt will always lurk in the shadows. Our ultimate goal then is to create a new belief and make peace with the voices. Know this. Faith and doubt live in the same house. If you stay with it, faith will win every time. Have an excellent day.
