Faith and Chafing

Floating in more questions than we can answer, we are inescapably creatures of faith and look to one another in deciding what to believe. Individuals seek clarity in their communications and crave the clearer meaning that the exchange of thought can give to a life. Particularly in the give and take of sincere, heartfelt messages the soul can glean a solace unlike any other and at times the turn of a phrase can resonate within as if conveyed by the tongue of angels. In our yearning for clarity and consensus, even when our exchanges are far less than heavenly, preaching comes naturally to the species and, deep down, we are keen to receive the sermon that saves us from chaos.

(Being human, I am not exempt from such inclinations. Writing is my fight for light and the thought of the battle’s chronicle resonating with another soul provides a unique satisfaction and a motive to share.)

Yet there is something distinctly discordant about a sermon masquerading as something other than the preaching of faith that it is. The false dichotomy of believer and non-believer is a detrimental construct that haunts the modern mind to this day. In truth, all are believers and exercisers of faith and, though certainly the foci of our various faiths differ, to posture in writing or in speech as if one has somehow escaped the ultimate necessity of faith disrupts the sense of authenticity that that makes communication meaningful. Being continuously exposed to such disingenuous sermons can result in a chafing that, I am confident, has been experienced by more than myself.