Game of fools

Game of fools

Doubt and faith are partners in the dance,
first one leads and then the other
in the quest of surety,
which never comes.

For some they are friends,
sitting down over tea and cucumbers sandwiches
listening to each other,
spurring the other on,
the quest unending for truth.

For others they live in the same house
but one is in the attic,
the other in the crypt,
communication cut off
leaving bitter fruit.

Doubt allows faith to deepen,
to ask questions,
freedom to allow things to get scrambled,
allowing anxiousness to play itself out
until something larger,
deeper,
wise,r takes it place.

Doubt out of touch with faith can become bitter,
cynical,
cruel in its response to others,
refusing to learn from the wisdom of those around them,
becoming isolated from those who believe are think differently.

Faith without doubt
becomes rigid,
narrow and simplistic,
making ones faith a mockery in the face of others,
making ignorance a virtue,
their surety a farce.

Faith is strong,
yet having all the answers
or pretending too
is the game of fools.

Both believers and those who do not,
who do not face their own doubt,
become mirror images of each other
fighting the reflections projected back,
for what we see in others,
the reflection
is ours.

A lesson I am still learning