You say despair, not doubt, is the opposite of faith. Can you talk a little bit about despair?
One of the things that faith gives us–because of that open-heartedness and that sense of moving forward into life– it gives us a sense of connection to others, a connection to the whole of life, the whole fabric of life so that even if we’re suffering or experiencing loss with faith, we don’t hold back as though we’re isolated. We feel that we are connected to the larger picture and to other beings. Despair is the real severing of that sense of connection so that we do feel that we are all alone, we feel that our pain has brought us apart from others. It’s like the quotation I use from the woman in Hiroshima who describes her loss of faith after the bomb dropped by saying, “After the bomb dropped we all become completely separate human beings.” That was her definition of despair and loss of faith. So when we lose contact with the truth that we live in an interconnected reality and that we’re held by life, that what we do can make a difference to ourselves and to others, then we’re in
