Faith

Note: Frummies, this post obviously assumes I'm right and you're wrong. If you want to know why I think that read my other posts.

What is faith?

Back when I was good card carrying member of Orthodoxy I had faith.

But that faith was nothing special from a religious point of view. It was merely ignorant of any other way of thinking. As soon as I found out that not everyone in the world thought like us I started asking questions.

But is there another kind of faith?

Can one feel a deep inner intuition that Orthodoxy is true and that God exists despite complete and full understanding that there is no logical evidence for these ideas? Indeed Rousseau (and his modern Jewish disciple A.J. Heschel) rejected rationalistic proofs of God (and religion) and tell us to but look at our hearts. But I wonder if these people believed (erroneously in my opinion) that the dictates of the heart have just as much authority as logic OR did they realize that their hearts can't really tell us anything about reality but decided to follow anyway because life isn't all about logic.

Or is the faith of most true believers merely ignorance? When I say ignorant I don't mean they've never heard of the things us skeptics talk about - though that is often the case. I mean they do not fully realize the real implications of the skeptics' claims. Perhaps due to their fervent belief they are unable to allow their reasoning to proceed to it's logical conclusion. A sort of mental road block. Perhaps with the aid of this barrier in the road they believe that they are holding onto a fully rational world view when in reality they are using faulty thinking guided by their preconceived views.

So to sum things up I can imagine four types of faith:

1. The Realistic Romanticists

Those who follow the dictates of their heart with full knowledge that their hearts can't really describe reality. (I can't really imagine anyone being really fervent this way but whatever I suppose its possible)

2. The Wishful Thinking Romanticists

Those who follow the dictates of their heart thinking that human instinct (in this case often the product of brainwashing) is just as good as logic

3. The Intellifundies

Those who think they are following reason but really aren't

4. The Sheltered/Hamon Am

(What I used to be) Those who don't think OR don't realize that there is an intellectual world outside of Orthodoxy.

(I think 3 and 4 are the majority of people, I have met a few lone 2s, and never met a 1)