[Reader-list] When was the first time you were told there is God?

[Pheeta Ram]

Dear Rakesh,

"But faith is something which makes me do what i like." That is, "Faith
makes me free." Is that really so?Have you ever wondered as to why even in
our dreams, which according to psychoanalysis is the realm of the free,
where my repressed wishes/desires find fulfilment to my satisfaction, we
still are not able to surpass certain boundaries,
certain norms, certain belief systems? They don't loosen their grip over us
even in the realms of our dreams. Freedom granted by faith is not free.
Moreover, i would agree with you if you interject and say: freedom doesn't
mean normlessness.

The Chambers Dictionary describes the word faith as follows:

*faith, *n trust or confidence; belief in the statement of another
person; *belief
in the truth of revealed religion;*
*confidence and trust in God; the living reception of religious belief, esp
the religion one considers true*; fidelity
to promises; honesty; word or honour pledged; faithfulness...

Just have a look at the mixed baggage. Whither boudaries?
I can live by my own definitions of words but bodies of words are
contentious sites where wars over meanings are fought.
The organism of language evolves thus. A dictionary is just a praiseworthy
but terminally futile attempt at containing this amoebic organism.

On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, they do. But faith is something which makes me do what I like. That
> may not be the case with organized religion. For example, most of the time I
> go to religious places (places of religious importance), what I like is not
> so much worshipping the deities there (which I can of course at my home any
> way), but seeing the devotion of others, the architecture specialities (if
> any), and the surroundings and the environment they create for that
> devotion, in terms of the kind of people visiting and also the way the place
> is kept.
>
> Organized religion will go hammer and tongs at me for thinking in this way.
> But not faith.
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
>