Sometimes we feel that for the real fullness of life we lack a sense of belonging to something that surpasses us. Three people – each with their attitude to faith – told us about how they gained their beliefs and why they cannot think of their life without them.
Blessed are the hearing the word of God and observing it ” – said in the Gospel (LC. 11, 28). Blessed – means happy. The words “blessed” existing a different meaning – “holy
fool”: “fool, butter is crazy”*. In other words, the one who “bliss” says it is not known that. And many are so, with irony and distrust, they perceive those who admit that they have gained their happiness in faith. But can faith in the forces of heaven automatically give us a guarantee of earthly bliss? No, of course. And the question itself is completely wrong.
Everything that humanity committed from the very origins of its history was invariably aimed at finding happiness. This desire is characteristic of each of us, it is in our blood. Only paths and hopes vary – to the omnipotence of God, on the political system or on the social model. Monotheistic religions call Christians, Muslims and Jews to Asuzes in order to then become possible the highest bliss in paradise. Eastern sages, on the contrary, teach not to expect anything, but to learn how to live in the present and receive satisfaction from what is happening to us “here and now”. And yet, the most different spiritual paths invariably converge in one thing – we cannot be happy alone. Therefore, each religion encourages its adherents to bring to others evidence of what good gifts their beliefs fill their lives. The stories of our heroes – Alena, Olga and Shlomo about this.
* IN. Dahl “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” (Ripol Classic, 2006).
“I am happy about what is today”
“I used to even envy those who sincerely believe. Believers can come to the temple, confess, pray, ask for something of their Lord. And this brings them relief, joy and even, perhaps, happiness. And I am an agnostic, and I am not only alien to hope for the Higher Forces, but also seems completely unprovable by the very probability of their existence. Therefore, I, as the heroes of Conan Doyle, believe that the creator himself is the creator of his happiness. I am happy when I look at the sea waves that break on the rocks. Or when I return home after an evening run, fitness, skiing. Or when I sit on a cozy country porch and observe a flaming sunset … I learned to enjoy what I have today. And I do not want to delve deeply at where this feeling of happiness comes from. I just feel good and I catch the moment. Did I become an agnostic because I received a mathematical education? On the one hand, natural sciences bring us closer to understanding the material world, and not to resolve metaphysical issues. On the other hand, many mathematicians of antiquity and the Middle Ages were also philosophers, theologians, wrote music, composed poems. That is, they combined classes of natural sciences with a tense life of the spirit. My need for spiritual life is satisfied with literature and cinema. But there is another source of happiness – mathematics lessons. I do not strive to just teach the student to prove theorems or display complex formulas. I want my lessons to allow him to feel more comfortable in the world. In order for his parents to stop scolding him, so that he becomes an author is a tent in the eyes of his peers, he began to relate to the exam … The solution to such quite earthly problems makes me truly happy ”.
“I don’t want to lose my roots”
I admit immediately: I do not wear a pile and I do not celebrate Shabbat – a sacred Saturday, when it is customary to refrain from any work. But I pray, do not eat pork, and it is very important for me to marry a Jew. So it was inhabited that in modern society we, on the one hand, do not forget about our traditions, and on the other, we do not observe them. We try to be fashionable or something. For example, I can’t, returning home on Friday evening, turn off the phone, TV, computer. I can’t refuse what I got used to, although I understand that this is bad. Compliance with traditions is a person’s personal choice, his desire not to lose his roots and remember why he came to this land. In my life, religion has played a huge role since childhood: I went to a Jewish kindergarten and a school with a religious slope, and now I am studying at the Judaic Department. It is very important for me to feel unity with the past of my people, its history. I am sure: there is neither meaning nor happiness to live without faith. Why be a good person, if you do not believe that everything will return to us in the future? You can, of course, fulfill the commandments out of habit. But the effect will be a hundred times weaker than if you do it with desire, faith, spiritualization. It should go from the depths of my soul. Recently, I merge with Russian society more and honestly, I can say that I’m afraid … to fall in love with a Russian girl. And I need to live as my parents live. It is important for me to continue their path – this is happiness “.
“I managed to find my way”
“I’m not going to the Orthodox faith – just about fifteen years I began to wear a cross found in my grandmother. I really wanted it. When something important happened, I squeezed him in my palms and spoke to God. It seemed to me he hears me … Then I learned the prayer. After some time, I went to church, stood one service, another. I started reading the Bible, the Gospel. Every time it was vaguely in my soul and no one could help even very close people, I turned to God. And it always became better for me, somehow quieter, calmer. The necessary thoughts came, the doubts ceased to torment … But once a serious conflict happened in my soul. The fact is that I have long and seriously fond of yoga, I teach. And from one of my acquaintances I heard a rather categorical judgment: everyone who is engaged in yoga betray God and does not even have the right to enter the church. He explained: there is the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God, may you have other gods except me”. But I always thought and think that I am doing righteous business-I help people! What I experienced then is difficult to describe in words – disappointment, resentment, fear. Now I understand that this was a real test – will I have enough faith to survive, stay in Orthodoxy? And now I remember the time the hardest in my life. I was afraid to go to church, and yoga. The most unpleasant thing is that I could not repent of sin, because I did not see my guilt! And yet I survived: I found the temple and father. who blessed me for yoga. It seems to me that it was at that moment that I realized the need to become not just an Orthodox, but a churches. Each of us has a own way. I have love for God and clear confidence that I can only turn to him through Orthodoxy. So, I have already found my path. And I am happy with this “.