Faith Without Religion: Bowing To The Mystery Of Life with Roger Housden

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Roger Housden shares with us that keeping faith does not require a religious code or practice “Faith is a wholehearted bodily knowing,” he says. Faith is an aliveness that doesn’t have an explanation. The purpose of life is revealed gradually. When answers are unavailable, faith holds us in place while we wait for them. Simply by trusting the present moment as it opens up to the next, we are expressing faith, love, and generosity. Grace, he suggests, is sitting at the table of the feast of your life. In moments when our idea of our self is tested, the intelligence of life takes over. There is a distinction between ideas and beliefs and faith. “There’s me and there’s the faith I have…we are the knowing faith…” Bowing to the mystery and trusting the life that is revealing itself, without struggling to control it, is what Housden describes as faith. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Bio

Roger Housden grew up on the edge of Bath, England and has spent decades traveling the world, exploring spiritual teachings and learning from masters both East and West. He presents workshops in creativity and writing. He’s the author of more than 20 books including the Ten Poems book series.

His books include:

• Ten Poems to Change Your Life (Harmony 2001)
• Ten Poems to Set You Free (Harmony 2003)
• Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation (Harmony 2003)
• Dancing with Joy: 99 Poems (Harmony 2007)
• Chasing Rumi: A Fable About Finding the Heart's True Desire (HarperOne 2002)
• Keeping the Faith Without a Religion (Sounds True 2014)

To learn more about the work of Roger Housden go to www.rogerhousden.com.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• What is faith
• What is a knowing heart
• What is the difference between faith and belief
• How do presence and attention translate into love
• How is faith experienced and revealed
• What is the relationship between identity and faith
• Why joy and rising happiness are sometime resisted
• What was the gift that Housden received from the powerful experience of being held in Iran for several days
• How the practice of presence is an act of love, generosity, and attention
• How beauty is a lived experience and a natural doorway to wonder

Host: Justine Willis Toms     Interview Date: 10/15/2014     Program Number: 3525

Music Playlist

From Album: Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar
Artist: Matthew Montfort
2008 Ancient Future #AF 2008

Opening Essay: Track 05 Celtic Raga
Music Break 1: Track 04 Michelle's Star
Music Break 2: Track 03 Soul Serenade
Music Break 3: Track 05 Celtic Raga (reprise)