In short, faith is the confirmative, existential stand corresponding to the creation of quality. The opposite is true, when there is a want of faith. Then you give up the positive will to qualify your life through aspiring after goodness. Faith, then, is always a choice, a readiness, preparedness, steadfastness, a resolution and an orientation. It is a declaration and promise of intent, a unilateral statement of meaning, a willing determination to respond to life in search for quality. It is the stamina of conviction and belief, and in the famous expression of a protestant theologian, it is courage to be, since courage is the quality of hope in faith. You cannot be in good faith, if you do not feel personally responsible or understand that it is up to you to make a real difference, so faith is also a recognition and acknowledgement of soul and selfhood. It is the ready and attentive heart, and the power of faith is the strength, by which the heart stays open and attuned to love and truth, which are the two primary conditions of the soul.

Truthfulness reflects and is necessitated by the self-identical quality of the soul, and therefore you have to be absolutely true to yourself and to your understanding of truth in order to reach the soul and keep your faith. This quality of truth in faith we call faithfulness, by others experienced as trustworthiness as opposed to what is faithless and unreliable. Hence truth is of the soul, but the soul itself is nothing but creative life in abundance, which is love, reflected in faith as acceptance and devotion. Thus all the qualities of hope, truth and love shine through in faith. The interconnectedness of truth and love, derived from the “status originalis” of the soul, is rediscovered in the double meaning of words like understanding and realization. You cannot really understand anything without loving it, and to realize something is both to have a clear insight in it and to fulfil it. In this respect faith is the brave application and perfection of sincerity and integrity in the pursuit of truth. It is the devout and unconditional dedication to love and understanding. And it is a commitment to responsibility and independence in being who you are and should be, yourself as a single true human being. This last aspect mirrors the individual and existential nature of incarnation. You must participate and take part in life with partial knowledge and liberty of action. Not to be engaged in life, but try to leave humanity in an attempt not to compromise oneself, is mere faithlessness.

Faith is a way of relating and responding to life, thereby generating selfhood, and thus it has a reason and is reasonable. In popular opinion faith is something irrational and indemonstrable, but this is far from being the case. Faith is not irrational or even non-rational, but rational in the sense that it can be explained and accomplished in a rational fashion, and trans-rational in the sense that faith pertains directly to the qualities of the soul-level and the ethical and existential dimensions of human life. In this regard faith cannot be rationalized completely, since it is an individual choice and a free act of its own accord. On the other hand faith is to be distinguished from belief, since faith is not relative to something other than faith itself. It is not a belief or a creed in something or someone else and it is not an assumption about reality in the first place. You can think this or believe that, and have whatever meaning you like, but faith has no other! Faith as an act is always intransitive, just as faith is supported and generated from within. Perhaps the use of language is not clear in this matter, but you cannot really place faith outside yourself in other structures, because this would be equivalent to weak and little faith or trust. Faith is not calculating or scheming. Faith is an absolute sovereign response from a person, who is in faith and shows faith – a spontaneous manifestation of the heart. So you have to manifest faith in existence all by yourself, but of course the person, who shows faith and has true faith, will stand out as an example to other people and encourage them to have faith. In one sense then, faith is absolutely private, but in another sense it is anything but private, since it is utterly humane and an expression of love and truth. Faith is an offering to humanity from one human being to any other. In faith lies the unique power to respond to life conscientiously and confirmatively according to the standards of true humanity.

Faith grows by using faith on faith. It is a positive and generous act you just have to continue faithfully. And you really must appreciate that faith is the one truly original feature in the life of every individual person, by which you gain or loose your precious individuality. Faith is the unique life of realization of quality, and as such it involves a spiritualization of the person. If the personal life does not express faith, then there can be no real identity and selfhood, since only quality contains and sustains identity. You can imitate personality and copy behaviour. You can follow discipline, guidelines and directions in any belief-system you choose. But the act of faith is deeply personal and always represents the unseen, the unheard and unthought of. Faith is existential, and in real faith you are sooner or later on your own! Of course there is a community of faith as there is a congregation of belief, but when faith is practiced sincerely, at some point and in some aspects there will only be communion in Christ, and the footprints in the sand belong to you alone.
 
Faith is unprecedented in its creative powers and constitutes a true miracle of life, leading to the ultimate mystery of the soul. It unleashes a genuine spiritual transformation and a mystical realization of the person all by himself, since truth pertains to truth, love pertains to love, and reality pertains to reality. It creates light from within that shines forth and draws in light as well. Faith is by no means inactive or unproductive, because what is done in good faith rests in sure quality, and this becomes a clearance and an opening of the personality. Faith is for real, and in its reality it shapes and influences reality. Thus a growth of the soul is possible through faith, which implies an increasing sensitivity to oneself, to other people and to the world. But this is a spontaneous and organic development on the basis of love that is not comparable to the egoistic obsession with energy-controlling techniques in many traditions. None the less it creates a refinement and a sophistication of the make-up of man. That is what Jesus said and what he meant. If you have a fragment of faith and adhere to it, then you have a key to incarnate existence that can invert the normal conditions of it. Without faith you are unfree, dependant and conditioned, because you are always surrendered to the material and partial circumstances of life. But in faith you achieve freedom, independence and selfhood. What can never be conditioned from outside and what can never depend on anything else than yourself is how you choose to respond to life and what relational quality you establish. This recognition makes everything in existence possible that seemed impossible, even the evils and suffering of it, because faith copes with despair and abandonment.

It is a gross mistake to let a false ontology and philosophy of mind determine ethics wrongly. True humanity can never be separated from the structure of ethics, and ethics are the very key to a proper understanding of the phenomenon of man. You cannot separate the meaning of life from the reality of it. Then, instead of conceiving incarnate life as a suffering without meaning to be fled from, you should perceive it as a blessing to be confirmed in faith. Do not waste the sacred individuality in surrender to outer authority, but risk it on your own truth. What matters is the growth of the soul in this life. Who can foretell the ways and purposes of the soul? Then have faith in the fulfilment of this life in incarnation and do not allow anything or anybody to dissolve the mystic core of faith in you.
 
Look at the facts of civilization and culture. Then you see the society-creating potentials of loving faith. You see its affirmative, inclusive and liberal tenet in the workings of human-rights, civil liberties, democracy and general education. You see its inherent respect and appreciation of every individual person in his creativity and self-determination. You see its renovating and inventive nature, flourishing freely in multitudes of divergent expressions. Then look into the traditional cultures of the East and their pessimistic and collective religions. What have they achieved by their severe conditioning of generations other than the repetition of a static social pattern with heavy control of thinking and behaviour? Try to understand the disdain of the guru or lama as the restricted reaction of the narrow-minded and conforming traditionalist with his origin in a society without any signs of development or dynamism through ages. Appraise the dullness, rigidity and authoritarianism in the customary system he advocates, leaving no room for any adaptation or adjustment, because his in- and backward orientation prohibits new formations. Is this dependent clinging enlightenment at work? Is it even intelligence?

To the Westerner, the guru’s culture and religion seem at first glance to be exotic and exciting and he himself a creative and inventive personality. But think! You have to repeat what he repeats for many stagnant lives ahead! This inflexible repertoire is outdated culture and evolutionary remains. He has not discovered that Earth was initiated two thousand years ago and now serves as an abode for the manifestation of individual souls and their brotherhood on the basis of faith. Since then evil has in principle been defeated, because Jesus Christ has showed and ensured us the truth of human life in the being with God. If faith before that time was groping in darkness trying to establish itself, it is now directed by God’s revelation. Just for once try to imagine that Jesus Christ had not appeared? Think away the gospels and Christianity for the past two millenniums. Where on earth would you then look for a guiding star of this pure brilliance and luminosity, illuminating with absolute transparency true humaneness in a single life? There would not be much to inspire hope or sustain faith from. Faith would be up against heavy odds, and manipulating evil would have the game all to itself. So without faith, there is evil. But faith immediately makes the suffering of evil possible. Only, without hope, faith must manage and endure suffering on its own, and this is evil suffering. But again, as soon as there is a hope of faith, the suffering is made easier and we find courage. Since the appearance of Christ, this has been the situation on earth. We have hope in him! Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Math. 1:28ff] And so let us now try to explain to you the reality of our Christian hope.