Knowledge, Faith, & Belief

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Here are some thoughts on the subject by another eminent

philosopher, who grew up in a differnt culture, Sarvapalli

Radhakrishnan.

 

S. Radhakrishnan :

The Brahma Sutra - The Philosophy of Spiritual Life

[George Allen & Unwin, 1960]

excerpts from the Preface, Introduction, and Comments on the text.

 

p. 116:

" Faith and Belief:

There is a difference between faith and belief. The two are not

necessarily in conflict.

An act of faith involves a surrender to the creative intuition which

transcends the limited awareness of the intellectual self.

Those who live by faith, who had a personal encounter with the

Supreme need not abandon the traditional formulations of belief in

which they have been reared; for these beliefs were also originally

born in the mind of man.

To become organic expressions of faith they must be reborn and

continually renewed in personal experience.

Even when we admit revelation, there must be an answering witness

within the soul.

 

Sometimes these beliefs are more a barrier than an aid to the

unfolding of the creative experience.

Dogmas and usages tend to stifle the spirit in us.

Those who feel the spiritual urge in them sometimes feel the

oppressive weight of dogmas.

We cannot accept the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures.

Indian thought assigns a place to belief in the development of

religious experience.

Sravana or hearing the scriptures is the first step to spiritual

realisation.

It is safe to cling to a system of beliefs, lest in seeking reality

for oneself, one may miss one's way.

But beliefs become moribund when they lack the inward experience

which renews their meaning.

 

Belief should set us on to reflection, manana, and contemplation,

nididhyasana, which results n atma-darshana or vision of the Self.

If we end with beliefs we preserve safety at the cost of life itself.

When we rise to the highest experience we abandon the defences.

 

The orthodox theologians of different religions do not accept

experience or immediate knowledge as final.

We may have a feeling of certainty but not certainty itself.

This experience must be open to reason and not at any rate contrary

to it.

Even if we have a direct knowledge of God we must establish it on

other grounds.

We cannot be content with stating that the experience is ineffable.

The Brahma Sutra is an enquiry into the nature of reality revealed by

the seers of the Upanishads.

It is its function to interpret the experiences of the seers so as to

give a coherent view, to relate their account of reality with the

nature of reality given by science and common sense.

For nature is of God; its study is his service; its truth is his

revelation.

The theological doctrines different religions have been adapting

themselves to the intellectual temper of the world, accepting truth

from whatsoever source it appeared and discarding erroneous forms of

expression.

 

The authoritative character of the Vedas which include the Upanishads

is not inconsistent with philosophy as a criticism of categories.

The seers give utterance to their visions of Ultimate Reality.

The author of the Brahma Sutra systematises them and has referred to

oral traditions of their significance.

 

Today unbelief in the form of certain conviction is yielding to

unbelief in the form of doubt.

Michael Faraday said,' In knowledge, that man only is to be condemned

and despised who is not in a state of transition.'

With sincerity and impartiality we should endeavour to seek solutions

of religious questions.

 

The view that Scriptures of all religions have a claim to our

allegiance in so far as their statements are not dated has the

support of Indian religious classics.

The spiritual community of the future needs for its foundation no

geographically limited writings, no groups organised in accordance

with ecclesiastical articles and rules.

All those who are aware that future salvation does not depend on

mechanical or technological development or regulation of economic and

social life but solely on the revival of a world of spiritual values

which evade empirical analysis but reveal themselves only to faith

and hope should band together and work for the world community.

In that city which is still out of sight, in that homeland of the

spirit, we will understand one another.

 

Every period of history nurses in its bosom certain unavowed and

unanalysed assumptions which constitute the key to the interpretation

of that period.

Our generation is aiming at human unity and brotherhood and the

establishment of the one and only universal Church.

An interpretation of the great Scriptures of the world on the lines

outlined here may perhaps provede the the basis for such a

consummation. "

 

Regards,

 

s.