“For many people, among them those who either regret or boast about their being nonbelievers, the word “Faith,” written with a very capital F, is a very big block.
In reality, however, faith is related not only to Great Things; it has to do just as much, if not more, with the myriad of little things that are a part of everybody’s daily life.
There are, obviously, many people who are credulous, and some others who are much less so, but nearly everyone is a believer to some degree.
Belief exists even in the most hardheaded, rational nonbelievers.
Many of us take pride in our rationality—we think we base our actions and thoughts on accurate knowledge, verified facts, and an orderly sorting and sifting of opinions.
The truth, however, is that nobody is a total nonbeliever; all of us accept almost everything on faith.
Faith, in the everyday, common sense of the word, is so ingrained in our lives that we cannot do anything without it.
We accept what we are taught in school and what we learn in the street.
Most of these things are not only unverified, they are unverifiable, yet they are still a huge part of our lives.
It is practically impossible to do any real checking about most basic things.
We do not have the time, the facilities, or the talents to find out for ourselves about most things that we say we know.
We accept the facts about the height of Mount Everest—even most of the people who climb it do not bother to double-check the measurements—just as we accept facts about cars and electricity, signing contracts, and walking in the street.
We take so much for granted because we have faith—to some degree—in the car dealer and the electrician, and in the normal, even decent, behavior of those people we encounter.”
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From Simple Words by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz