46. The World's "Faith Test"

Our world is taking a test and the main measure is “Faith”. How do you think we are doing? What is your definition of “faith”? How would you grade the world without an objective definition of “faith”?

Remember, you can be graded by your response to: "What is your definition of “faith”!"

-Destructive: ad hominem, respond by attacking me personally

-Animal: ad populum, avoid answering the question through distraction, rationalization, or presenting effects. (We have seen, presenting a poetic definition based on effects damages the brain.)

-Human: provide a Causal definition (We have seen, only 5% are able to do this.)

-Leader: provide a Non-contradictory definition so others can do it intentionally

(Here’s a link to a short video using Scurvy to show the same four levels, which seems to be more applicable today considering we are dealing with COVID-19 in the same way!)

Twenty years ago, I used to have teenagers walk up to a religious leader and ask, "How can I have more faith in the next ten minutes?"

If the leader would say, "Pray", the teenager would say, "If I go over there and pray for ten minutes are you promising me that I will have more faith?" At that point, the religious leader would come up with an abstract answer that basically says you can't intentionally have more faith, if that wasn’t their initial Animal answer. It's at this point that the teenager would tell the religious leader that it is possible and then prove it!

If your definition for faith is "belief in the impossible" or "belief in something that doesn't make sense", then the only way to build your faith is to try to believe in something that is more impossible or makes even less sense. This is the definition of "faith" used by people whose goal is to exert control over others. (Also known as a Boss.)

The teenager would quote Hebrews 11:1 to the religious leader and say the definition of "faith" is “belief in something you can't see” either because it is invisible or it hasn't happened yet.

For example, do you believe the sun will come up tomorrow? (Yes)

Has it come up tomorrow? (No, not yet.)

THAT is faith.

Do you believe in electricity? Gravity? Magnetism?

Have you seen electricity, gravity, or magnetism?

You've seen the effects.

EVERYONE "knows" by this Non-contradictory (Conjunctive) definition of faith.

Faith is actually a very important ability to have in the brain, because without it, you would ONLY take actions once you saw the causes. (However, as we learned above, the ultimate Causes are invisible.)

The key discussion is how do you BUILD faith?

Why do you believe the sun will come up tomorrow? Because it has in the past. This is faith based on experience.

If something happens twice in a row, your amygdalae AUTOMATICALLY consider the third occurrence as a given and your amygdalae fire if it doesn't happen. In fact, your amygdalae fire more depending on the length of the consecutive streak that was broken!

(In the 1990's, investors using computers realized that companies who missed their quarterly profit forecast were punished by investors according to the length of the streak that was broken! A company with a thirty-quarter streak of successfully meeting their profits forecast was punished MORE than a company that missed a ten-quarter streak, even though the thirty-quarter streak company was clearly better than the ten-quarter streak company. Investors took advantage of that momentary over-punishment to rake in big profits. This lack of rationality is attributed to the star of the 320? thought process: the amygdalae. Understanding how the brain actually works can expose hidden opportunities, so if you don’t want to understand how the brain actually works and take advantage of hidden opportunities, don’t read last week’s article.)

Experiential faith is very easy to get because it happens automatically and it can be lost in a second!

Why do you believe a light will go on if you flip a switch from across the room? You understand how electricity works. This faith is based on understanding and it lasts longer than experience. You believe in electricity even when the light doesn’t come on! The healthiest people turn experiential learning into understanding learning so others don't have to spend years learning the same information. These healthy people are Leaders.

There are two ways to learn and they are the same two ways to build faith: experience and understanding. You can burn your hand on the hot stove or you can listen to someone explain what will happen. Learning through experience sucks. Learning through understanding takes mental toughness and is uncomfortable. Hence, only 5% are excellent enough to learn through understanding. The rest of the people have to fall in a hole before they learn.

Trust and faith are the same! When I explain this to teenagers, I ask them, "What happens when you bring back the car after curfew?"

They say, "My parents are mad and they ask me what I was thinking."

I say, "What do you answer?"

They say, "I don't know what I was thinking."

I say, "That's too bad. Your parents had lost faith/trust in you and were giving you the chance to build their faith/trust in you through understanding. When you don't help them understand, then all that's left is experience. That's why when you ask when you will be able to use the car again, they end up saying, "We'll see", which means, they will have to get more experience with you before their faith/trust in you grows." Back to the teenagers I taught.

You can intentionally build your faith in ANYTHING by getting more experience and/or more understanding of the object of your faith.

Needless to say, the religious leaders had 320? amygdalae issues after getting a lesson from a teenager. Not only didn't they know how to do their job; they found out a teenager was teaching them without needing to get a paycheck to do it!

How well is our world able to believe in something we can’t see? How is faith PROVEN?

Faith is proven in actions. If you didn’t have faith in electricity or that the sun would come up tomorrow, you would have different actions.

The world is proving its level of faith through its actions. Are we using this time to become stronger and be ready for when this is over? I call this "Elevate": to rise by lightening the load. Are we trying to survive this? "Survive": to outlive, which is only putting off the time when the person will eventually fall into a hole. Are we trying not to think about this? Entertain ourselves to distraction. Are we getting more and more agitated and aggressive?

What happens when this is over? Are people going to trust their employer, their leaders, their friends, their government? How will our "Leaders" intentionally increase our faith and trust in them?

Are you starting to see the importance of definitions? Your response when this is over will not only prove your definition for "faith/trust", it will prove which thought process you have habituated to for Fulfillment!

When it comes to Humans, there is one critical behavior people need to demonstrate in order for others to trust them, but we'll cover that in a later article. What a person wants others to understand about them will be altered by their audience if the Uniqueness of the listener isn’t recognized. For now, people are not Robots. Logically trying to convince or bribe people into trusting them will turn off some portion of the population because of their Uniqueness, unless you believe people are Robots.

When it comes to definitions, there is one that helps people avoid depression more than any other word: God. What is your definition of “God”?

The way to determine the definition is to use the principles that determine Truth!

Causality! Everything you see is an effect of a cause AND every cause is an effect of another cause. This continues until we come back to The First Cause: God.

God: First Cause

Causality proves God’s Existence. Every question a person has at this point deals with God’s Identity (which we will cover next week). For now, EVERYONE believes God Exists.

When I meet an atheist, I share this proof and the ONLY response a person can have is to say they don’t believe in Causality. Notice, in order for the atheist to do this, he has to admit I’m more logical than him!

Worse, I tell the person that I’m going to give them the chance to tell me they don’t believe in Causality after I begin warming up my right hand while explaining, “If you tell me you don’t believe in Causality, I’m going to slap you in the head as hard as I can with my right hand and when you ask me why I did it, I’m going to say, “No reason, it was causeless” and you are going to have to live with that. So, do you believe in Causality?”

Even worse, your unconscious brain knows the definition of God is The First Cause! When a person says they don’t believe in God, they are saying they don’t believe in Causality, and every time they use Causality to prove their point, their unconscious begins the process of depression! This is why believing God Exists is the single best way to overcome depression!

Truth is self-evident. I don’t need to argue the definition of “faith” or “God” with anyone. The act of arguing with Truth destroys the person, especially if I don’t argue back!

There are no “zero events” to the brain. Anything other than a Non-contradictory explanation for a critical belief is hurting people, which is Bad and not admitting it is Evil.

Look around! How are people doing on this "Faith Test"? When it comes to interacting with others are people Good, Bad, or Evil? The very public and permanent record that is the internet is recording your test results now so we can all be publicly evaluated when the test is over.

Next Chapter: Modeling God

Table of Contents

Are you one of the 1% of people who WANTS the Truth? These articles are a book on Generativity: the ability to apply Tension?without Abuse?in order?to Replicate. (A nested Conjunctive!) If you are interested in going on this journey of Generativity, the first chapter is here:?Do You Really Want To Improve Mental Health?

The following is intended for people who either say they base their life on the Bible or know people who say they base their life on the Bible...

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Five verses later:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

It is impossible to please God without believing in: something you can’t see (God) and something that hasn’t happened yet (reward) because your actions will prove it.

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2:19)

Demons believe because they have seen. This is not faith.

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”

But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread (tangible), but of the doctrine (intangible) of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12)

Jesus said they had little faith and immediately referenced understanding and experience ("remember"). He essentially said, “You saw me feed four and five thousand, but you think feeding twelve is impossible?” Jesus turned their experiential faith into understanding faith by the end of the encounter! Notice, teaching this passage would help people intentionally grow their faith by realizing it is built through experience and understanding.

Fifteen years ago, I read a book that had sold millions of copies and this is what was presented for this same story:

“But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves.” (Yes! A period!)

The author changed the verse to make the point that faith was proven when people DIDN’T try to understand! I wrote the author’s ministry confronting them about their changing Jesus’ Words.?

Fittingly, their changing of Jesus’ Words to an Animal emphasis was defended with an Animal thought process. Hurting people is Bad...not admitting it is Evil.