..续本文上一页pered by our position in time. As Kierkegaard noted, we live forwards but understand backwards. Any hardheaded business entrepreneur will tell you that the future has to be taken on faith, no matter how much we know of the past. What”s more, we”re often forced into momentous decisions where there”s no time or opportunity to gather enough past facts for an informed choice. At other times we have too many facts—as when a doctor is faced with many conflicting tests on a patient”s condition—and we have to go on faith in deciding which facts to focus on and which ones to ignore.
However, faith also plays a deeper role in many of our decisions. As William James once observed, there are two kinds of truths in life: those whose validity has nothing to do with our actions, and those whose reality depends on what we do. Truths of the first sort—truths of the observer—include facts about the behavior of the physical world: how atoms form molecules, how stars explode. Truths of the second sort—truths of the will—include skills, relationships, business ventures, anything that requires your effort to make it real. With truths of the observer, it”s best to stay skeptical until reasonable evidence is in. With truths of the will, though, the truth won”t happen without your faith in it, often in the face of unpromising odds. For example, if you don”t believe that becoming a pianist is worthwhile, or that you have the makings of a good pianist, it won”t happen. Truths of the will are the ones most relevant to our pursuit of true happiness. Many of the most inspiring stories in life are of people who create truths of this sort when a mountain of empirical evidence—racism, poverty, physical disability—is against them. In cases like this, the truth requires that faith actively discount the immediate facts.
If we dig even deeper into the psychology of decision‐making, we run into an area for which no scientific evidence can offer proof: Do we actually act, or are actions an illusion
Are our acts already predetermined by physical laws or an external intelligence, or do we have free will
Are causal relationships real, or only a fiction
Even the most carefully planned scientific experiment could never settle any of these issues, and yet once we become aware of them we have to take a stand on them if we want to put energy into our thoughts, words, and deeds. These were the areas where the Buddha focused his teachings on empiricism and faith. Although the first noble truth requires that we observe suffering until we comprehend it, we have to take on faith his assertion that the facts we observe about suffering are the most important guide for making decisions, moment by moment, throughout life. Because the third noble truth, the cessation of suffering, is a truth of the will, we have to take it on faith that it”s a worthwhile and attainable goal. And because the fourth noble truth—the path to the cessation of suffering—is a path of action and skill, we have to take it on faith that our actions are real, that we have free will, and yet that there”s a causal pattern to the workings of the mind from which we can learn in mastering that skill. As the Buddha said, the path will lead to a direct experience of these truths, but only if you bring faith to the practice will you know this for yourself. In other words, “faith” in the Buddhist context means faith in the ability of your actions to lead to a direct experience of the end of suffering.
The Buddha offered these teachings to people seeking advice on how to find true happiness. That”s why he was able to avoid any coercion of others: His teachings assumed that his listeners were already involved in a search. When we understand his views on what it means to search—why people search, and what they”re search…
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