How do you do it?

[Hallelujah]

I've lost all faith in humanity. All faith in anything. I can't reason with myself and I can't justify trying to stay alive in such a messed up world, and I want to believe in something, anything but I just can't. Everyone says that every cloud has a silver lining, I can't see it.

Even my doctor says I need to believe in something.

How do you get up and place all your hopes and dreams and everything into something? How can you put all your faith into something?

I'm too afraid.

I don't even know why I'm posting. I just...want something. Help? A bit of hope?

[Soliloquy]

Hey Joanna,

I understand how you're feeling right now. Faith is something I've struggled with myself. I think it's something everyone grapples with from time to time. We all need to believe in something, whether it's a god, a spirit, humanity, or just life in general. My own faith has bounced all over the place since I first started questioning it two years ago.

Personally, I'm a big believer in the saying "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Putting all my faith into something doesn't really sit well with me. I think that many people invest everything they have in one person, thing, or religion/god, and that essentially becomes their lifeline. (Remember this is only my opinion and you're free to disagree with it.) But I believe that we should spread out our faith and channel it in many different ways. These ways can vary by belief or religion. I don't believe we should rely solely on any one god, person, or thing to always save us from destruction. If you are depressed and you have a supportive religious community, then I would say that's a wonderful thing to have! But we also must stand on our own at times. And for that reason, I believe we must have faith in ourselves as unique, intelligent beings.

I pray sometimes, not to a god but to spirits of people who have passed as that is what I believe in. Prayer and meditation, I've found for myself, are good ways of coping and for feeling less alone. I also have a strong support network in my life and people whom I trust and feel I can rely on. I have hobbies that give me a sense of importance and that are also very fun. I blog. I do work on here. So you see, I have many different outlets that I can turn to when my life gets tough.

Now, that's not to say having faith in anything is easy. It's not, I will admit to you. But remember that doesn't mean it's impossible. I know what you mean about feeling you live in a messed up world. It's scary. Some attribute this chaos to it being part of God's plan and this gives them comfort. Personally? I don't believe in a plan. (But that doesn't mean you can't.) When I get beaten down, I prefer to talk to people, to write, or to look for small things in my life that make me smile. For example, I was feeling pretty down earlier, but then I saw my kitten sleeping on my sister's bed. He looked like he had fused with the mattress. He was so comfortable. It just made me smile and laugh. I live for small moments of happiness and innocence like those.

Remember that faith and hope often go hand-in-hand. Sometimes when it becomes hard to keep faith, we must turn to hope. We hope that things get better. That whatever is plaguing us will pass. If you find that faith is something that's eluding you on a certain day, hope is the next best thing.

Remember that faith changes over time. Very rarely does it stay the same as we get older and we learn more. This is okay. My advice would be to just go with it. It's all right to be afraid at first. But we're all here to support you.

I'm sorry if this wasn't much help. Hang in there!

[Of Mike and Men]

Originally Posted by Eremophobia

I've lost all faith in humanity. All faith in anything. I can't reason with myself and I can't justify trying to stay alive in such a messed up world, and I want to believe in something, anything but I just can't. Everyone says that every cloud has a silver lining, I can't see it.

Even my doctor says I need to believe in something.

How do you get up and place all your hopes and dreams and everything into something? How can you put all your faith into something?

I'm too afraid.

I don't even know why I'm posting. I just...want something. Help? A bit of hope?

I don't mean to shoot you down, however, I don't see why you must put your faith in anything. I do have faith in God, however, my faith in God is very unconventional of most Christians. I do have a lot of beliefs contrary to modern Christianity, namely the God loves everyone message, but nonetheless. I get by, not relying on humanity, not relying on myself, but relying on forgiveness. I think faith in anything is bound to fail, save faith in God. However, that does not mean that your faith may fail, but that God's faithfulness will not. Simply, I trust that despite my faithlessness, my impenitence, my sinfulness, wretchedness, and whatever-else I may be, God has forgiven me.

I guess, to a degree, I've lost faith in all things because I realize my lack of faithfulness. I've messed up to many times to trust another, I've sinned too many times to make up my wrongs to God. Thus, my only possible means of existence is forgiveness. Not only just God-ward, but human-ward as well. Meaning, I know people are going to screw up. Richard Dawkins screws up, Albert Einstein screwed up, Soren Kierkegaard screwed up, John MacArthur screwed up, the Apostle Peter screwed up, Socrates screwed up... we're human. Thus, we can only co-exist by forgiveness.

People are bound to let you down. But, you are bound to let people down. Two quotes I keep to myself, but I'll share with you is:

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -Tolstoy

"Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are." -Kierkegaard

The first, I believe, helps me realize that it's not humanity that needs changing, though it may... it is myself that needs changing. How can we expect to trust others, when we cannot even trust ourselves? And if we cannot trust ourselves, it is us that needs to change to show others that some can be trusted. Yet, in the same regards, forgiveness is key.

So, I don't know what to tell you. If you think this world is messed up, it's not necessarily what others have done to mess it up, but what we haven't done to keep it messed up. I don't know specifically what you are talking about, but something that impresses me is poverty. In America, we throw away enough food to feed each person that is dying from starvation, 1,000 lbs of food a day. However, the point is, what am I doing, what are you doing, to change that? I recall once hearing of an person of old, as long as we have 2 tunics, and another has none, we are stealing from the one who has none. Yet, it is ironic to think that our minds immediately say, "Well, even if I give my one tunic [of course we don't wear tunics], it won't change the world." No, but it will help, and it has changed the world for that one. But as long as we have excess, and people are dying of starvation, lack of clean water, nakedness, etc. we, who have excess, are essentially responsible for the death of those people.

Lastly, I feel that I must impress upon this. The most important thing in finding contentment in this life is to realize that humanity is messed up, but we are of humanity, and thus messed up. Once you realize how pitiful we ourselves are, you begin to find contentment, even in the smallest things, and you begin to see each act of kindness spark hope. But until then, we will only see the world as a dark place without hope. Yet, society tells us we must feel good about ourselves. We must do all these things to become better, more moral, etc. Well, once you see your moral bankruptcy, I promise you, you'll be content, and happier than ever. It is society that says it is a depressing thought to find yourself morally bankrupt. But I promise. It is bliss. It is the best thing that has happened to me.

I trust something in this helps.

[Lugez]

Just have faith in yourself. You, as an individual, have more power than you know.