Fear, Faith, and Believing vs. Knowing

Fear is deeply rooted in uncertainty. Think about it; the only you've ever feared was the unknown. All fear and fears humans have experienced and continue to experience is rooted in uncertainty. A drive in an unfamiliar place can prompt fear, an unknown result, a stranger behind you, or a dark alley.

Any life uncertainty can fuel human fear. Sometimes we even use references to light when talking about knowledge ("he is so bright"). Knowledge takes away from uncertainty and thus reduces fear (to "brighten up" the dark alley). Your friend might know that stranger behind you (his name is Joe and he likes the Beatles). You found the unfamiliar place in a map(You were one street from your house). Us humans find comfort in "knowing" things; It gives us certainty and a sense of stability. It is the "knowledge" of everything that we have always sought. "To know" has become our goal, as individuals and as a planet. To "know" is to be certain.

Beliefs, however, are very different in that we can choose what to believe. "Do you believe in life after death?"- "Do you believe in God?" To believe is to choose a truth, where as to know is to be certain of that truth. I know my name is Alex, I do not merely believe it is. Beliefs leave a small room for doubt; and doubt creates uncertainty. Having said this I see a lot of people misguiding their positive intentions by convincing themselves into "believing" this positive outcome or that positive scenario. The problem with this approach to life is that you will always know that you can choose to believe something else, and thus deep down you will know that whatever you are choosing to believe is not Truth. It is merely a passing illusion, one that may or may not serve you for a period in time. What I suggest instead is to have faith. Have faith in whatever you have chosen to have faith in.

To have faith (true faith) is to trust, and trust gives certainty, and certainty is tied to knowledge, and knowledge leads to truth! We have come a long way in our evolution as a self-aware species, and although we still have much to learn (and experience), man we have grown up so fast! It almost makes me want to stick all of humanity next to a wall and trace how many inches we've grown just in the past 100 years. You and I and everyone we see and know are creating this world with our experiences and our intentions. I believe?I mean?I know (and have faith) that we are all going to be alright.

Alexander Fuentes is currently a student of Metaphysics, He resides in Boston,Ma. He writes on numerous New Age topics including meditation, Unity, psychic awareness, faith, and happiness. His homepage is http://www.myspace.com/alexander_fuentes

In The News:

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President-elect Barack Obama introduces, Nancy Killefer, not shown, to the newly created position of chief performance officer, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, at his transition office in Washington. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)AP - President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that the nation's recession could "linger for years" unless Congress acts to pump unprecedented sums from Washington into the U.S. economy, making his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to define his early presidency.



AP - Retailers are reporting dismal sales for December, confirming fears that the holiday season was the weakest in four decades.

Israeli mobile artillery units fire shells towards Gaza from their position outside the northern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2009. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)AP - A U.N. official in the Gaza Strip says Israeli forces have fired on a truck on a U.N. aid mission and killed the driver.



Illinois U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris smiles as he meets with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - Illinois Republicans are promising tough questions Thursday for Senate-appointee Roland Burris on why he accepted a position offered by disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich and whether he promised the governor anything in return.



A sign instructs job seekers at the California Employment Development Department in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. The country lost nearly 2 million jobs through November and more bad news is expected this week when the government releases data on weekly jobless claims and December unemployment. No matter how bad those numbers are, and economists expect at least another 500,000 jobs were lost last month, the pain is stretching into 2009.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP - Pink slips are piling higher as companies scramble to cut costs even deeper to survive the country's economic and financial storms.



President-elect Barack Obama, flanked by President George W. Bush, and former President George H.W. Bush, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2008, during a meeting, with former presidents Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)AP - The House and Senate are coming together in a centuries-old tradition to count the electoral votes from the November election and formally declare that Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States.



A trader walks off the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the close of the trading session in New York City, January 7, 2009. (Mike Segar/Reuters)AP - Wall Street headed for a sharply lower open Thursday as investors absorbed bad news from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which signaled that even the stronger U.S. retailers are struggling.



Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer delivers the keynote address Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - Microsoft Corp.'s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time. That's one message Chief Executive Steve Ballmer delivered on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show.



Christian Bale accepts the favorite action movie award for 'The Dark Knight' at the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards on Wednesday Jan. 7, 2009 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)AP - "The Dark Knight" soared away with every trophy it was nominated for Wednesday at the 35th annual fan-favorite CBS ceremony. The caped crusader flick won five awards, including favorite cast, superhero, action movie and on-screen matchup for Christian Bale's Batman and the late Heath Ledger's Joker.



Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops poses with the BCS championship trophy during a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. Oklahoma will play Florida for the NCAA BCS football championship Thursday, Jan. 8. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)AP - The Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators meet tonight for the BCS championship. It's a matchup that includes a pair of Heisman Trophy winners, an SEC vs. Big 12 debate and more than its share of trash talk.



President-elect Barack Obama arrives with Nancy Killefer, his appointee as White House Chief Performance Officer, during a news conference at his transition office in Washington, January 7, 2009. (Jason Reed/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama will seek Thursday to rally support for a massive fiscal stimulus package by warning that the United States could remain mired in recession for years without bold action.



A Palestinian girl with dual citizenship looks out the window of a bus as she leaves the Gaza Strip with her family January 8, 2009. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)Reuters - Several rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Thursday, slightly wounding two people, police and medics said, in an attack seen as linked to Israel's war on Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.



A worker brings carts back into a Walmart store in Westminster, Colorado in this August 14, 2008 file photograph. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported a disappointing 1.7 percent rise in December sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year, and the world's largest retailer cut its quarterly earnings outlook on Thursday.



Reuters - The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will name Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law School professor who pioneered efforts to design regulation around the ways people behave, as regulatory czar, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Senator Charles Schumer on Capitol Hill in a file photo. (Jason Reed/Reuters)Reuters - Citigroup Inc is leading other lenders in advanced talks with key U.S. senators on legislation that would allow judges to set new repayment terms for millions of mortgage holders who wind up in bankruptcy court, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people involved in the talks.



People walk past the Bank of England in central London, January 8, 2009. (Rob Bodman/Reuters)Reuters - Bleak economic data in Europe and a wave of profit warnings and job cuts worldwide renewed investors' fears on Thursday, strengthening the case for more government stimulus efforts and encouraging rate cuts.



A news cameraman films outside the headquarters of Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, January 8, 2009. (Krishnendu Halder/Reuters)Reuters - India vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years.



Oleh Dubyna, the head of Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, arrives at the European parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels January 8, 2009. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)Reuters - Russia and Ukraine failed to resolve a gas row at a meeting in Moscow but will continue talks to end the dispute which has choked off supplies to Europe, a senior Ukrainian gas official said on Thursday.



Fake coffins wrapped in black with the Arabic words AFP - Rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday jolted efforts to end the war in Gaza where Israeli jets carried out mass strikes on smuggling tunnels.



A Palestinian protestor flashes the V for 'victory' sign in front of an Israeli soldier near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's old city. Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.(AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)AFP - Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.




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