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Keeping The Faith

Midwifery today (Eugene, Or.), 1991-04 (17), p.31

Copyright Midwifery Today, Inc. Apr 30, 1991 ;ISSN: 0891-7701

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  • Title:
    Keeping The Faith
  • Author: Arms-Wimberely, Suzanne
  • Subjects: Health ; Preventive medicine ; Religion
  • Is Part Of: Midwifery today (Eugene, Or.), 1991-04 (17), p.31
  • Description: Faith, as I now experience it, has two components: holding a vision of something beyond oneself, and maintaining a daily practice, with a quiet, observing mind. The dictionary definition of practice is "working at something repeatedly until one becomes proficient at it." By maintaining a practice I am referring to a spiritual practice (although for many years the very word "spiritual" was distasteful to me). Spiritual practice simply means actually attempting to live your life in a particular way that matches your higher values or beliefs -- living one's connection to a higher power, to God, to whatever we name that which is unknowable. The practice part of faith is simply trying to live according to one's vision. And of course, simple does not mean easy. I had a spiritual teacher once who initiated me into faith, taught me how to find it in myself and how to live by it. It answered a deep thirst in me and ended years of despair over the state of the world and myself. She described the appropriate function of vision as that which guides us, gives us something to work toward, what we lack and yearn for, and she spoke eloquently of the importance of first having a vision, then lining oneself up to face this vision, and then letting it go. The rest, she said, is simply a matter of living day by day, with your full attention on placing one foot in front of the other. She said, "You do not need to constantly check back to see if your vision is still there. It will always be there, if your heart yearns for it." She added that if we did this with dedication, one day we might stand and look back and discover that what we once lacked and could only yearn for was now inside of us, embodied in us. That is what spiritual teachers talk about when they speak about "embodying" the principles you want to live by. About ten years ago, I listened to a radio rebroadcast of an interview with Martin Luther King Jr. He was speaking about his darkest hour, what is referred to in spiritual literature as "the dark night of the soul." He had been arrested once again and was sitting in some nameless jail somewhere, alone, tired and weary of the struggle, when it dawned on him that he, the preacher who always inspired others to keep the faith, had lost all faith. In that moment when he most needed it, he could find no faith in anything. He had lost faith in the process of life itself. And it was a humbling and frightening experience, having spent his life speaking about faith and inspiring others.
  • Publisher: Eugene: Midwifery Today, Inc
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0891-7701
  • Source: ProQuest Central
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