It takes faith to see

“To see is to believe” is a very popular catchphrase. Oh, I’m sure you have heard of it.

Does this phrase mean that you do not have to believe in what you cannot see? That you can only believe in what you can see?

I am pretty sure this is not the case.

See faith for example, faith is something subjective. I can’t see it, yet I can feel it, so therefore, I believe in its existence. 

Now, let me illustrate that believing is not just seeing.

Let’s try gravity, I believe in the law of gravity and I know you do too. I can’t see gravity and you can’t too, but my faith in it says it is there, simply because my feet remain firmly on the ground.

But let’s say – for example – that you feel like contradicting this.

To debate about the existence of gravity or to debate against it is nothing more than an exercise in futility.  When you debate, you need to prove your point. You may be very sincere in your conviction that there is no such thing as gravity, so you go up a building and jump off it just to prove your point.

Jumping safely off a building is okay as far as I am concerned, I have jumped off the Macau Towers, but because I believed in the law of gravity, I made sure that there were cables and machinery tied to my feet that would prevent me from landing flat to the ground.

The building jumping is okay, but the landing is what can mess up everything and even more so if without safety harness attached to the person. By the way, when you jump off a building, you do not defy the law of gravity, you actually confirm it.

This is why the adage ‘to see is to believe’ is not necessarily true.

This logic applies to everything. A myopic view of life will lead to calamity tomorrow. Discipline can force us to take a long-term look at the future effect of today’s action or inaction, even if we can’t see it or seem not possible at the moment.

Now, let me go out on a limb and say that this logic applies to our physical bodies as well.

Consider the following examples:

Suntan today: Skin cancer tomorrow.

Drugs today: Addiction tomorrow.

Smoking today: Cancer tomorrow.

Beer party today: Beer belly tomorrow.

Supersize meal today: Supersize body tomorrow.

Sexual promiscuity today: Sexually transmitted disease, unwanted pregnancy, and emotional heartbreak tomorrow.

Because we cannot see these effects, we become impatient and lazy. “I want it and I want it now!” This brought people to addiction. â€œJust this once and I can stop anytime I want.” This also brought people to some serious health issues. “I’ll just do my exercise next week.”

Self-discipline is important. Self-discipline enables us to commit ourselves to improvement while anticipating and bypassing the harmful things.

All successful leaders and achievers I met were all disciplined. Luck and good fortune may have placed them there, but we overestimate these factors. What we do not see underneath, is the amount of extreme discipline they have to practice to become what they are today.

Popular speaker and author Brian Tracy says: “The one human quality that must be developed is self discipline for success.  The will power to force yourself to do what you know you should do when you should do it, whether you like it or not, whether you feel like it or not. Success is tons of discipline.”

And what can I say? I just can’t argue with that observation.

(Spend two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he presents Level Up Leadership on June 24-25 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)