Driven By Doubt

Why does faith have ups and downs?

Doubt is an indispensable part of a spiritual path. Everybody says so, and who am I to doubt.

But I wonder why.

It seems to me that the changes that I experience as I progress on a spiritual journey have a great deal to do with my set of mental models. Elsewhere I've mentioned that integrity means a consistent mindset with beliefs, principles, and mental models fitting together in a way that works.

My spiritual journey started with a recognition that things weren't working and soon progressed to a crisis in which my fundamental beliefs changed. Since then, I think I've been discovering through experiences that my mental models need to evolve to fit with the new beliefs and principles.

My mental models are how I explain and understand myself and the workings of the universe of which I am a part. Every time I ask myself "how" or "why" I'm challenging my mental models. These questions are the doubts that drive my spiritual adventure.

Doubts drives speculation. Speculation drives experiment. Experiment drives experience. And experience tests my mental models. If I pay attention, wisdom can emerge.

That's what it's like to be a thinking creature in a physical universe seeking a spiritual understanding.

Can you doubt it?

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