Knowledge, Faith and Karma

So I read this in a friend's philosophy paper: "A great irony exists in the fact that knowledge, to which we appeal in order to dismiss faith, requires faith to exist at all." (Okay, Cameron sent me a draft of his paper to confound my mind). It's an interesting statement. Let's think about this. I AM a closet and/or barstool philosopher after all...

We believe in what we "know" to be true--usually what we witness firsthand or what we accept based on our experiences. But because we can't experience everything firsthand, we have to extrapolate based on what we "believe" to be true. know=believe. This extrapolation is, essentially, faith, and it can be strong or weak depending on the situation and our experiences. I experience gravity firsthand every day, so I guess I have a pretty strong faith in gravity.

I've been struggling with faith lately. The thing is, there are an infinite number of things I'll never experience firsthand. Lots and lots of grays in a world that isn't every really black or white. I'd say I'm spiritual, but not so religiously dogmatic. I guess I have faith that different people can have different truths. Sometimes I really appreciate those people who have strong faith in certain areas, but I do have a hard time when their faith in what they know or believe to be true starts to infringe on others' rights to know or believe a different truth.

That's rather shades of gray, isn't it. I also believe in karma--that you get what you give. And while it may not be as easy to convince someone to believe that as, say, to believe in gravity, I've observed what I believe to be karma in action on numerous occasions.

So to bring some kind of closure to this mess, I have faith that the more one has experienced firsthand, the wider world view that person will have, and probably better karma, since that person is more open to new experiences and information and less rigid in what he or she knows to be true. So get out there, America, and experience life firsthand. Think and believe for yourself. Come to your own conclusions. I have faith that the more you do, the better your karma will be... Accept and you will be accepted. Include and you will be included. Tolerate and you will be tolerated. Love and you will be loved.