Beauty as Emunah

Emunah can be hard. Shifting to an alterative method of emunah can help.

Everyone struggles, spiritually. Sometimes that's an emotional struggle, where we feel hurt by people, God, or both. Sometimes it's an intellectual thing, where we question our beliefs and find it hard to put the pieces together. And sometimes, we just feel off. We want to want  to see life as this incredible, Divine creation, but it's too big to process; life feels ordinary or even secular.

We try various remedies: listening to speculators reconciling Torah and science, repeating the mantra that everything is for the good, taking on new behaviors to feel more religious, singing and dancing (the louder the better) -- and yet, we find ourselves treating symptoms, instead of getting to the root of the problem. 

Now here's a big pill to swallow:

The root of the problem is superficiality.

As spiritual people, we can get caught up in the details of our beliefs without really experiencing the essence of it. Sure, the details are critical, and thoughts and actions can enhance our perspective, but we need an unconscious foundation to anchor us as well.

If you haven't tasted spirituality on a deep enough level to feel it intuitively, you can't really expect to be consistent when times are lean and your mind feels small.

But what kind of emunah is always available to your senses but still deep? Is there such a thing?

Beauty can be the simplest source of emunah.

Sometimes, if I feel empty and down on myself, the easiest and most effective thing for me to do is find something I like and appreciate how beautiful it is. 

As human beings, we process the world around us with our senses, without thinking, and constantly look for things that we enjoy or find interesting.

It's so simple. Everyone finds something beautiful. In times of simplicity, your mind won't necessarily benefit from pondering arguments for intelligent design in the universe or listening to anecdotal evidence of Divine providence. But it can appreciate candy, the sky, fancy cars, or a hug.

Just bask in the simple beauty of whatever it is. Isn't it incredible that this beauty exists? Isn't it enchanting? This is something special. I think you love the experience. Let it fill your mind.

This is a taste of what spirituality feels like.

It's always there. It keeps you afloat. 

There's your starting point; let's go from there.