with one's legs fettered by doubt, one is unable to take a step down the path.
with one's mind blinded by the hindrance of doubt, heedlessness prevails.
with one's arms predisposed to fending off mara's vast, mirage-like army ...
one feels cornered, with nowhere to turn. and so obsession takes hold ...
self doubt and doubting others ... doubt here, doubt there, doubt everywhere.
where to find a foothold for this onslaught? where would 'i' feel the safest?
'my' world ... identity views, ritual attachments; 'my' accumulated beliefs.
and so 'i' seek to solidify this foothold ... "credibility! credibility! credibility!"
yet it is this grasping, this clinging, this attachment to identity views, beliefs,
ritual attachments, and doubt itself which perpetuates the misery and mayhem;
and it is their very abandonment which assures entry into the wondrous stream.
the above is written with a decidedly buddhist flavor, but there is also much to
read on the topic on the actual freedom trust website under the library topic "
doubt."
here are a couple of particularly relevant paragraphs:
richard:
RICHARD: Having the ‘courage of your convictions’ has nothing to do with believing, trusting, hoping or having faith that it be possible. I, for one, never believed, trusted, hoped or had faith that it was possible, for such an action of believing, trusting, hoping and having faith perpetuates the believer, the truster, the hoper and the faithful. On the contrary, I could no longer believe that it was not possible – which is a different action entirely to believing, trusting, hoping and having faith that it is possible – thus dispensing with the believer, the truster, the hoper and the faithful. Do you see this?
For example: Doubt is believing it not to be possible ... doubt is actually an action of believing, which supports the believer. Faith is believing that it is possible ... which also supports the believer ... and thus, either way, the believer pushes freedom away into an ever elusive future.
one sure way to win out in this predicament is naivete, unlocked via sincerity.
trent