This is what I mean when I said you're playing semantic games.
You've replaced magical make-believe invisible man in the sky, with happy-go-lucky unicorn farts and labeled it a "strongly held belief".
To me, it just sounds like your "faith" is an excuse for you to not act in your own best interest. You'll sit around, probably until someone else willing to act forces you to react, because of your "faith".
This is my problem with faith. It's espoused by a group of people kicking the can of action down the road, hopium driven that someone else will save them.
I feel nothing but pity for your faith.
How do placebos have such high efficacy in many cases? How come people who have lost the will to live succumb to cancer at much higher rates than those who are optimistic?
Your mental state affects your whole life.
Perhaps. I won't deny there is observable behavior here.
I will, however, point out that not everyone has this reaction.
Consider me, the polar opposite of your scenario. I create my own mental state by taking action in my life. I do not rely on faith, I rely on making a decision and doing something about it.
You can't save everyone. Most of the sheep are incapable of maintaining their "faith" as you call it, without someone, or something else, guiding them.
I am not one of those sheep. I don't think you are, either.
I wholeheartedly agree that you can’t sit on your couch and eat Cheetos and expect success to fall in your lap simply because you have faith. I just think that the first step in taking action is having faith that you can succeed in the first place. Or at least a glimmer of hope. Otherwise you’re only doing things begrudgingly. The people who have the most faith in themselves or in the outcome seem to have the most success in their actions. I think we both agree on a lot of things, I just have grown to have a lot of respect for the power of the mind on destiny
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