One may asked, exactly what is faith? One may ask, exactly where does faith come from?

First I don't beleive, I feel, and before I feel, I doubt or in other word I wait. Wisdom will be when I know. Faith comes from imagination and emotion, doubt from the inquiring mind.

Faith trapped within culture and religion becomes emotional , doubting what we have learned opens the door.

I have faith that one day we will know but now I can only imagine. Love feels a good way to start. Respect of all the our differences and understanding where we are now.

Faith comes from the heart of the believer in which he/she has faith in.

Doubt comes from the small voice within, sometimes one will recognise this small voice within and act upon it when they hear it, sometimes not. However, there is a ‘second’ doubt, for one may doubt something and within a flash they have a second doubt, which usually gets the individual too change their minds, if they had listened to there ‘first’ thought (doubt) which springs from the heart and followed it, they could avoid the many pitfalls which life throws in ones path.

For doubt is ones subconscious at work, surfacing too the conscious mind and acting as an ‘alarm system’ for the individual.

I am not sure I can add much to what Jill or Sunman has said except my experience.

I think doubt like almost everything else in our Life has a positive & negative side depending on how I respond. Some are taught to avoid all examination of what they believe out of fear it may lead them to doubt. But it was answers to questions that never felt right as a wee one that started me on my path & at times embracing doubt that added to what I believed I understood at the time. Sometimes I can hear a new understanding on it's way when I begin to hear doubt & his sister confusion whisper in my ear! LOL!

I like what Jill said about being connected. I can intellectually know the Truth of something & still be in doubt because it's not the knowledge or lack of knowledge that creates the doubt. Doubt is of the mind & a side effect or by-product of the lack of Being in Remembrance or Constant contact. When I am connected to that inner part that is the Eternal Child, I feel no need to seek answers in the way my mind thinks it must know to own it. It is difficult to put into words.

Within there is a place of Being where you no longer seek in the same way, you are connected, you know that what ever info or understanding will be there when it is needed. The need to carry the knowledge in your head or mind disappears & suddenly all the burdens & needs just vanish. Outside of that place I always seem to doubt on some level because I consciously or unconsciously know I am not plugged in. I wish I could Be there much more than the few times I have glimpsed.

I don't know if I expressed what I am trying to say very well. Expressing Being in intellectual words is almost an oxymoron at times.

May we all come to the place where we can Just Be, may I also!

Many Blessings!

EDIT:

I have hears it said, if a demon makes you run closer to home, you have entertained Angels unaware!

"One must learn to always keep a safe distance from those things that are venomous.

One must learn from all the earthly animals, even mans friend 'the snake' is happy to share its wisdom with man.

One might consider this very small point...."

Then one must use discernment to know that which is poison & that which is good to eat!

Not all fruit that is beautiful is fit as human food!

Many Blessings!

Faith is a hammer, and doubt is the hooks at the back of the hammer that help you get the nail out after you've made a mistake :D Faith is also a pencil, and doubt the eraser on the other end of the pencil :D

Although sometimes doubt acts as the hammer/pencil, as is the case with Atheists. Either way though, you need a strong supply of both if you're going to be a metaphorical carpenter/designer ;)

Both faith and doubt come from some level of the individual mind, if at all. Both are tools to be used by the individual mind for it's own development. They are one dimensional tools though, they only do one job. Faith believes and doubt denys. Any form of understanding requires both, to varying degrees.

Faith, I feel, is that wish you've whilst you're in a sticky or quite dangerous hindrance. When in a foul hindrance Faith is that some thing thats gonna support you out of it. Kind of like within the films in which the foremost Character is approximately to die and prays to God, hoping he/she will get out alive. Thats Faith, (what i feel) there are plenty of unique definitions to that phrase.

Doubt is a two-edged sword that can deepen our Faith in all matters of the Spirit, once we recognize and are accepting, established in, and nourished by the Divine...bringing a wondrous and joyful certainty with every occasion that tests, confuses, denies, or blocks Truth. This use of doubt drives us deeper and deeper into remembering and understanding what we are as divine aspects of Source/God, for we are asked to affirm That which is already true.

OR, sadly, doubt can prevent even the initial opening of the inner doors to the Divine when the audible presence of the whispers of the still, small Voice within are first heard and denied. Once doubt has entered in the beginning, the struggle is mighty, for many weeds must be removed. All programming/conditioning must be scrutinized to overcome the ego, all dissonance and division examined. Doubt's wicked weeds, in this instance, must be tended vigilantly, and removed one by one with steady and constant effort.

Faith, which is our inherent human capacity to "know" and live our true nature, must overcome denial and remain constant in its affirming. Faith grows as we awaken to the Divine within, for we naturally resonate to this vibration of Love and Light, which is our true essence. Doubt bears not the fruit of Truth, having no existence in Reality. Faith seizes doubt and returns it to nowhere, from which it came. Faith lays and secures the steppingstones for our return Home.

i am Sirius

Doubt is the dual existence of mind in a close approximation in opposition to faith. Doubt comes from Ego analysing the data collected by the senses without realizing Ego itself is doubt and Soul is faith and the Soul is watching the ego in all these actions.

PS: I said close approximation because doubt and faith can co-exist and cannot therefore be considered vertically opposite. In absolute faith, or absolute surrender, the ego merges with the soul and doubt therefore do not exist.

Doubt comes from being used to being lied to. If you have not experienced something first hand and somebody else has you either believe them or you dont , and if you are interested enough you can struggle between the two to know. Unknown territory will always give rise to doubt.

I think doubt can arise when there is a temporary disconnectedness from Spirit/The Divine. It is when we are thrown back on our own inadequate resources and feel weak and frail.

When we are connected, there is not any room for doubt.

Where does doubt come from? Doubt comes from our lower separate ego, and fills the space provided by our lack of connection.

Just a small personal opinion that notes, when I feel weak I have doubts, when I feel connected and in communion, I have no doubts.

Namaste

It is my experience that doubt like all things comes at different levels.

On one level doubt may be your spirits response to what you know within yourself to be untrue.

On another level doubt may be fear, the flaming sword that turns to and fro, that keeps us from Eden.

On an entirely different level doubt can be a form of faith that manifest itself into reality as surly as a mountain throwing itself into the sea.

Doubt frequently keeps us humble and occasionally keeps us in line.

The secret of course is that all things work to the good of those that love God.

Doubt is just as much one of those things as any other.

Do not be to hasty in feeling doubt to be a curse when it could be a blessing.

/.\

Dear Willroge,

Peace be upon you.

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

You have two questions. Faith and where does it come from.

Well faith is "trust or confidence". Here in this category, we are more toward religion. Therefore "FAITH" means "Trust in Al-Mighty God Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala. A belief in religion.

Where does it come from?. Its from the Messenger of God Prophet Muhammad Sallahhu'alaihi Wassalam.

To conclude: In Islam there's Muslim. Muslim are the person that had submitted himself to Al-Mighty God Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala is the "FAITH" of which Muhammad is the Prophet.

Wabillahhitaufiq Walhidayah Wassalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahhi Wabarakatuh.