The F-Word: Reconsidering Faith with Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

MP3 Download For some faith is an outdated, even dogmatic idea. Namgyel sees it as “not something you have or don’t have, faith is a way of being in relationship to the world around you.” She refers to it as “faithing”. This dialogue takes a deep dive into the Buddhist principle of mutual causality and dependent origination. She says “everything leans” and explains in greater detail the following: “This is a very, very deep principle. The Sanskrit word for it is Pratityasamutpada, which is often translated as dependent arising or dependent origination. I like Joanna Macy’s translation, which is ‘mutual causality’: Everything is bumping up against everything else and causing it to happen. It’s a continued genesis of appearance and experience. It’s a way of talking about the genesis of appearance which is happening all the time in a continuous way.” Her shorthand for this is “everything leans.” She suggests that a helpful mantra in answer to any inquiry might be: “It depends.” She adds,