Faith, Hope and Love

Source: PatsyGC

The Bible talks about faith, hope and love. They are pathways of relating to pure awareness, the sea of awareness, of dissolving the bonds of habituated awareness, and hence the false sense of identity.

Hope is probably the least of the three. It is the inkling that there is something better, that there is something grander out there. It is daring to allow a closed mind a glimmer of an opening, so that daylight may peep through. However, it is also fraught with defensiveness, for it aspires for a better day, yet holds the sense of identity deep within itself, and when fear comes, it is easy to let hope go, to shut the door and retreat into dense ignorance.

Faith is a bigger version of hope. It is trust in the vision that hope holds out. It says, "Even though I see no evidence of anything, I still hold." The weakness of faith is that without wisdom it can be misapplied, and then it becomes stubbornness, or blind faith. And when faith goes, the separated awareness falls into despair.

Love is the greatest of them all, for it asks nothing in return. It is the adoration of pure awareness, asking for nothing, and thus gives all. There is no secret hidden price, and thus the sea of awareness is able to bestow its highest blessing, for by making themselves truly self-less, the loving meek inherit the earth.

Faith As A Grain of Mustard Seed

King James Bible, Matthew 17:
¹⁴And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, ¹⁵Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. ¹⁹Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? ²⁰And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. ²¹Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

It struck me like a bolt of lightning in the clear night sky just now as I was walking. It occurs to me that in Matthew 17:20, Jesus made a very sneaky statement. I have quoted the entire paragraph so that it is read in context, before I am criticised for throwing quotes around the place. I want to point out one very unquestioned assumption in this paragraph: Jesus says "faith AS a grain of mustard seed", NOT "faith AT LEAST AS MUCH AS a grain of mustard seed". Sit with that for awhile. Is a realisation dawning?

The traditional assumption is that it means we are so pathetically lacking in faith (a view I do not agree or disagree with) that we cannot achieve anything. I note that Jesus may not even have been referring to a quantity. It says "as", which could just as easily be interpreted as "similar to" a grain of mustard seed. Now THAT is a very different tale. I propose it meant the latter meaning, which by its very definition covers quantity as well.

Let's deal with the quantity question first: I think it literally means, we need to have faith as SMALL as a mustard seed. Ironic, no? I propose that more is less, and less is more in matters of faith. The problem is this - in "faith" we actually separate ourselves from the creator principle, whatever that may be for you. In the Bible, that would of course be God, the Father. The greater the "faith" you have, the greater a perceived difference between you and God there must be. That is why, I believe the bible says, of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest. (See 1 Corinthians 13). And if you read the whole chapter you will see that "love" looks suspiciously parallel to the Buddhist "bodhichitta heart".

Anyway, smaller is better because if we sit in separation, we put more conditions on belief, and that actually hinders manifestation. The nature of manifestation is homeopathic. That is why the seed is symbolic - it is tiny, yet it contains the potential for an entire plant. Even the mustard plant is symbolic - it isn't a huge oak tree. Quite the contrary. It suggests that even in the process of manifestation we need to maintain flexibility. So, the slightest touch is needed.

There are other parallels and similes we could draw to the mustard seed, but I'll leave that to you. Just consider that piece of advice in a slightly different light and you might be surprised by what you find.