Belief and Trust

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I never really understood the difference between belief and trust.  I thought if I believed I also trusted–they were two sides of the same coin.  Now I have learned a new way to understand these words and the actions that come from them.

Believing is a cognitive action.  I have to think about what I believe and what I will do about it.  My actions follow my belief.  I am a Christian, so I arrange my logical steps to account for my faith.  It requires the history found in the Bible and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to be firmly understood in my mind.  My belief is very logical and real, and my attendance at church and my participation in Bible study are evidence of my faith.

Trust is not logical or cognitive at all.  It is found in some other framework.  It is not based on language or understanding.  I can’t give you reasons why I trust God or how I find comfort in the sacrifice of Jesus.  I can’t even define trust in adequate language.  I just know.

I found this new understanding of faith and trust explained in George Vaillant’s book SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION.  Vaillant is a psychiatrist and very savvy about evolution.  He describes the way human development was enhanced by the use of language in the frontal cortex of the brain.  This refinement of our ability to communicate is a recent addition in evolutionary time.  The limbic system is an older method of evaluating the environment.  It is based in odors and sounds and sights that don’t require language.  Babies respond to touch and sound without the need for language.  As adults we become so sophisticated that we lose the familiarity with these ways of communicating.  They still operate in the background or beneath the surface of our consciousness.  There is where I found trust. 

I don’t trust God because I understand the words of the preacher’s sermon or because I can read the Bible.  I trust him because he has come before when I was alone or afraid; he has strengthened me when I was tired and cleansed me when I was dirty.  And it was all without words or language.  I can’t even describe how he does that.  The structures in the limbic brain are the places where emotions are found.  Fear, aggression, pity, joy and other things like memory are developed in the limbic system.  Maybe the limbic brain is where the soul resides, and language, words, and explanations are not really able to communicate the realities found there.  Trust is there, and God blesses me there.