I deeply dig Rabbi Rami Shapiro. Here's a taste of his recurring column, "Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler," that appears in the bimonthly Spirituality and Health magazine:
"Question: I know a lot of 'people of faith,' but when I ask them about their faith, they always tell me what they believe. Are faith and belief the same thing?
"Answer: No, they're not. Belief is about knowing; faith is about not knowing. Belief is about content. I believe this and I don't believe that. Faith is an attitude toward reality, a trusting in what is unfolding without knowing just what that is.
"The best faith is fierce: You know that you don't know; you know that you can't know; and yet you embrace the moment boldly, completely, and without hesitation. Fierce faith is cultivated through equally fierce worship. Such worship may be organized or improvised, ecstatic or contemplative. One point that the different kinds of fierce worship have in common is that they do not shore up or confirm your beliefs; rather, they strip you of belief and wrap you in a 'cloud of unknowing.'
"Fierce faith opens body, heart, and mind to a love unbounded by politics and social conditioning; a love that shatters tribalism without eliminating tribes; that burns away imposed differences and celebrates individuality; that consumes conformity, even as it reveals a greater nonduality.
"There is nothing wrong with holding beliefs, just do so lightly. But the deeper work is to release your grip on belief and surrender yourself to faith."
--Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Spirituality & Health, May-June 2010
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