Contemplating the Particles of Faith

I recently had the opportunity to review a new book before its release. The book is called Particles of Faith by Stacy A. Trasancos; it’s an ideal stocking stuffer (and it’s not too early to think about stocking stuffers) for the college student who just left home for the very first time to study the sciences, and perhaps, stopped going to church for the very first time as well. Many struggle with how to reconcile faith and science. This book will show you how science can only be properly understood in the light of faith.

The author is a Catholic scientist herself, so who better to write on the topic. Read it and learn all about…

• The chasm that faces every scientist
• How scientists know very much about very little
• The “System of Wills” and the interlocking system of reality
• The Battleship of Scientism: Can you trust a ship that does not know where it is going or where it came from?
• How the story of evolution is itself evolving
• How to answer that question that annoys so many, especially in a big election year. “When does human life begin?”
• How leaves on a tree, flapping mindlessly in the wind, helped bring a scientist to faith

This book reminded me a lot of something mentioned a few times on this blog called “The Weak Eye”1. It’s an allegory I often elaborate on from lay apologist Frank Sheed. It goes like this…

We have two physical eyes. There are also “two eyes” when looking at life; a secular eye and a spiritual eye. Our secular eye can refer to not only our bodily senses, but also all the practical things we study and learn about to help us function in our communities, homes, and jobs. This would include all the sciences as well. The spiritual eye is about how we all ponder things like the Good, the Beautiful, the True and the meaning behind it all. This eye is focused on spiritual reality. Many Catholics end up with a weak spiritual eye simply because they don’t know or exercise their faith.

What happens if we have one weak eye? There is lack of focus; we cannot see reality clearly. This can explain how those who are highly trained and educated in science can lack spiritual common sense. We can even be educated out of our faith as the secular eye gets stronger and stronger, while the spiritual eye is ignored and grows weaker and weaker. No exercise.

Once we find that reality seems unclear, what can we do? We can either close the weak eye and forget it entirely or exercise it and build its strength. But how? Think of a child that has a condition sometimes called “lazy eye”2. A doctor might recommend a way for the weak eye to start working harder. If this isn’t done, there is a good chance one eye will always be weaker than the other eye. As a result, the brain favors the stronger eye. The weaker eye tends to wander. Eventually, the brain may ignore the signals received from the weaker eye. One eye will always be blurry, one always sharp.

It’s the same thing in the spiritual life as the author alludes to in her book. She began to follow what the Church teaches (as an act of the will) by attending Mass, praying daily, consciously pursuing virtue and avoiding sin, all of which gave her spiritual eye the opportunity for exercise. If we don’t do these things, we will always favor the secular eye due to poor vision in the other spiritual eye. The weaker eye will tend to wander (spiritual wandering). Eventually, you may ignore the signals received from the weaker eye. One eye will always be blurry, one always sharp. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” (Mt 13:9)

In terms of proof, the author tested the principles of the faith in the laboratory of her life and found them to be true, but in the end aren’t all proofs like a glass of water?

“You can purify that water and set it down in all the fine crystal you want, but you cannot force a person to drink it.”

—Stacy Transancos

Particles of Faith, page 69

Pre-order your copy today!!

Released date Oct. 10th

1.     Frank Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Cincinnati: Servant Books, 1981) p. 185.

2.     Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic [Website], “Diseases and Conditions Lazy eye (amblyopia) Definition” (3 July 2013), Site address: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lazy-eye/basics/definition/con-20029771

The Habits of Faith and Problem Solving

The book I’ve written about faith, reason and problem solving will be available at all major online book outlets, hopefully by the end of the summer. It’s called Faith with Good Reason: Finding Truth Through an Analytical Lens and the foreword is written by Stacy Trasancos, PhD.

The book is a practical look at faith, reason and problem solving for dealing with the common realities we all face—for all things visible and invisible. When I was chosen to become the program leader and instructor for a specific kind of problem solving and decision making process for my job, I began to see commonalities between the rational processes I was learning and some of the reasoning of the various Catholic thinkers I was reading. If you think about analytical problem solving, it's about finding "truth" objectively, regardless of feelings, strong opinions, past experiences or intuition; finding truth even when empirical evidence is lacking or impossible to obtain.

Although the book is already written, I continue to come across aspects of problem solving that can relate to the spiritual life, such as this article about three habits of creative problem solvers.

HABIT #1: THEY'RE COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY

You may think a method of analytical problem solving is only about observable evidence. It is not. Most often it is physically impossible for us to obtain all the data we need or want to answer all the questions we have. In fact, I don’t remember a single instance at work when we had all the evidence we wanted at our disposal, therefore we need to learn to be comfortable with uncertainty.

Uncertainty can help us see things from a new perspective, but without some comfort level with uncertainly, we can become fearful and revert to a “fight-or-flight” mentality, which is detrimental to any critical thinking process. For problem solving, the “fight” instinct might lead to irrational thinking, jumping to conclusions and being overwhelmed by the scope of the mess. The “flight” instinct might cause you to give up, pass the buck or waste mental energy blaming others.

It can be similar with the spiritual life. Uncertainty about the future, all the evil in the world, all the conflicting opinions, what we should do, or who to believe, can result in a “fight-or-flight” spirituality. Fighting for your faith, or just fighting to keep your faith, without a clear understanding of it can lead to irrational thinking, jumping to conclusions and being overwhelmed by the scope of the mess. Flight from faith can be just that…giving up with a bunch of poor excuses. If you take the time to seriously study your faith, you will become more comfortable with uncertainty.

Here’s a helpful tip from the article; create certainty in the rest of your life. The more habit and ritual you create in your day to day life, the more stamina you'll have when uncertainty shows up. Have a regular prayer time each day, receive the Sacraments often (weekday Masses/confession), read spiritual books grounded in Truth, and perform corporal/spiritual works of mercy regularly. These spiritual habits will give you strength when faced with uncertainty.

HABIT #2 THEY KNOW HOW AND WHEN TO RE-FRAME SETBACKS

Failure results in negative emotions like shame, fear and frustration. As a result many of us hide it. Hiding a problem, or a failed attempt to solve it, can delay the solution and potentially make things worse.

A good problem solver will not internalize setbacks; they will learn from them and perhaps use any new data from the failed attempt for the next attempt. He or she is also humble enough to get others involved. Instead of thinking, “I failed; better make sure nobody knows” they will think, "That attempt failed; let’s learn from it."—Big difference.

Catholicism and Christianity in general is a lot about forgiveness and second chances. We are to strive for holiness, but oftentimes we are more interested in what we want than what is right or what is true, living more for ourselves than for God. Sin is essentially a refusal to let God have His way in our life, so we have setbacks. Re-frame your spiritual setbacks and learn from them. Don’t think “I failed; better make sure nobody knows.” Re-frame it; only your attempt has failed. Ask for help. Involve others. Go to confession.

HABIT #3: THEY BELIEVE THEY CAN KEEP IMPROVING

The article refers to having a "growth mind-set" rather than a “fixed mind-set”. A growth mind-set basically believes that things can get better with effort, learning and help from others. A fixed mind-set sees no way to continue. Don’t think to yourself, “I’m not smart enough to solve this problem.” Instead think, “It is not solved yet, but it can be, perhaps with new skills, knowledge or help.” Add the word "yet" to your thinking. "There is no answer, yet." or "I’m not sure what to do, yet."

The virtue of hope is needed in the spiritual life to keep us moving. "I’m not as faithful as I should be, yet." or "I’m not sure how to grow spiritually, yet." We need a growth mind-set, but what effort are we putting forth for growth? What new knowledge or skills do we require to improve? How will we seek the help we need?

The Catechism says in paragraph 1821, “In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere to the end.” We should take comfort knowing that it is always possible to grow spiritually if we understand the mystery of God as an invitation. The negative view of the term “mystery” is that we can never hope to fully understand it or prove it and we will never be perfect (fixed mind-set). The positive view says there is an inexhaustible well of truth and love from which the soul can drink with the assurance that the well will never run dry (growth mind-set).

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."

—John Dryden

Not by Reason Alone

Have you ever read the following verse in the Bible? “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). It might be shocking to many non-Catholic Christians, but an informed Catholic should be able to take it in stride and place it in its proper context. It is interesting to note however, that the ONLY time the words “faith” and “alone” appear together in the Bible is in that one verse from James. That being that said, reason alone is also not enough.

Faith is something personal, this is why Jesus first asked his disciples, “Who do others say I am?” All kinds of reasons were given with all kinds of reasoning, but then the real point of the dialog comes in when he asked, “Who do YOU say I am?” This makes it personal and God wants it personal.

This makes sense to me as a father myself. I want my kids to have personal faith in me, not because they have evidence combined with the calculating logic of reason, but just because I’m their father. Obviously this would not be about faith in my existence, but let’s use faith in my judgment as an example.

Dad: You need to trust my judgment.

Kid: There is no evidence that your judgment is better than mine.

Dad: I’ve lived a lot longer than you.

Kid: That is only evidence that you are older.

Dad: I gave you life and everything you have.

Kid: That is only evidence that you have money and you know The Stork.

Dad: What about all the other times I’ve been right?

Kid: Your astonishing random good luck is self-evident.

Dad: Mom and everyone else in the family trust my judgment.

Kid: That is evidence that they do not demand evidence.

Dad: You need to trust me.

Kid:  Sorry, you need to provide evidence that you are worthy of my trust, and not just any evidence. It must be evidence that satisfies me.

So, at this point would a good father obey the child and provide whatever specific evidence the child demands? I think not. The father may just let the child suffer the natural consequences of not trusting in order to learn how to trust in the first place. In fact, I could even see a good father intentionally hiding evidence so that the child would have no choice but to trust. This is the only way a healthy parent-child relationship can work. Often times I feel quite certain that God made children as stubborn as they are in order to show us grown-ups how we act towards Him!

Trust is key for any good relationship and same is true for our relationship with God. It won’t work without trust. This is demonstrated throughout all of salvation history. If you know the people and the Bible stories, you know when there was trust and when there was not. Think about Adam & Eve, then Noah, then Abraham, then Moses, then the Israelites, then the Kings of Israel, then Mary & Joseph, all the way up to Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Think about who trusted and who didn't and how did it turn out?

In the first chapter of John’s Gospel we read about the two disciples of John the Baptist following Jesus and then asking him “where are you staying?” He replied "Come, and you will see." So they went and they saw (see John 1:36-39). The same is true for us today. First you must ask, then you must “go”, and only then will you “see”. He who tries to be a mere observer experiences nothing. Only by entering the faith experiment in trust does one have an experience; only by cooperating does one ask at all, and only he who asks shall receive.

"I believe in God as I believe the sun had risen, not because I can see it, but because by way of it, I can see everything else."

- C.S. Lewis