As often with these religious stories and images, I find that I can more easily relate to their (assumed) essence by not so much applying them to the large-scale outer world of people, politics, groups, etc. but to a much more fine-grained world of inner mental experiences.
For the described kind of faith, it reminds me of situations experienced through mediation or with psychoactive substances. Like when there is a lot of terrifying mental turmoil that takes you to places about “atrocities” that you supposedly have committed, are committing, and are going to commit. It’s agonizing and you don’t want to go there, obviously. But for some reason, at some point, a part of your mind breaks down and you surrender to the horrors. That very moment everything stops, nothing happens, and it turns out it was only a thought. A thought that was the world to you at that moment—but in the end just a thought.
Now, the more often you experience such a situation the more you may have faith that you can actually follow the “commands” of the mind, even when they appal you, somehow knowing far from the back that it in the end it hopefully will turn out alright again. Inschallah!
And starting from that extreme case, this quality of faith then becomes a more gradual one that can be re-discovered and experienced with more and more subtlety in everyday life. Let’s say, while cooking, you got the idea of adding some fancy new spice but a part of you is afraid you are going to kill your dinner. I suspect that this is also kind of the faith described in the Abraham story?
As often with these religious stories and images, I find that I can more easily relate to their (assumed) essence by not so much applying them to the large-scale outer world of people, politics, groups, etc. but to a much more fine-grained world of inner mental experiences.
For the described kind of faith, it reminds me of situations experienced through mediation or with psychoactive substances. Like when there is a lot of terrifying mental turmoil that takes you to places about “atrocities” that you supposedly have committed, are committing, and are going to commit. It’s agonizing and you don’t want to go there, obviously. But for some reason, at some point, a part of your mind breaks down and you surrender to the horrors. That very moment everything stops, nothing happens, and it turns out it was only a thought. A thought that was the world to you at that moment—but in the end just a thought.
Now, the more often you experience such a situation the more you may have faith that you can actually follow the “commands” of the mind, even when they appal you, somehow knowing far from the back that it in the end it hopefully will turn out alright again. Inschallah!
And starting from that extreme case, this quality of faith then becomes a more gradual one that can be re-discovered and experienced with more and more subtlety in everyday life. Let’s say, while cooking, you got the idea of adding some fancy new spice but a part of you is afraid you are going to kill your dinner. I suspect that this is also kind of the faith described in the Abraham story?