. Since faith is necessarily defined as confidence in something that has not yet manifested, does it have a place in insight at all? Since insight is based upon staying with the reality of the present moment and not getting caught up in ideas of future possibilities (‘attainments’, ‘goals’ etc), surely faith has no place, since it represents the gap between what is and what I think might happen (or is possible). My experience is that a sense of ‘rightness’ in what I am doing comes from experience and insight, and not contemplating what might be possible and how to get there with my intellect.

A. Faith isn’t needed for the unfolding of a specific insightful knowledge, as these moments are at the end of the journey, so to speak. Faith is needed in order to arrive at those moments.

To experience that level of insight we have first to work through our blinding thoughts that have their roots and life in our powerful emotional attachments and experiences anchored in the sense of self. The transformation of those emotional forces is very arduous and at times frightening, and tests the resolve of even the most dedicated of practitioners. By definition we are always going into the unknown on our spiritual journey, so we can never know what awaits us. Faith then becomes the indispensable tool that supports us through those difficult yet essential times that we have to endure and ‘stay with’.

Don’t imagine that faith is just simply a mental acceptance of something not known. It is that, but more crucially, it inspires and encourages us to bear with, thus developing the inner strength that is essential on our spiritual journey. If there isn’t faith somewhere in the background of our practice as a support, then the journey will become, sooner or later, impossible to continue.