But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be. — Alan Watts

But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

Author: Alan Watts

Insight: Most of us think faith means holding tighter to what we already believe. But Watts points at something different: faith as a kind of radical openness. It's the willingness to discover you were wrong, that your understanding needs updating, that reality might be wilder or simpler than you assumed. This runs against how we're wired. We prefer the security of our fixed ideas—they feel like solid ground. Letting go feels like falling. Yet this attitude shows up everywhere in actual life, not just spirituality. The parent who stays curious about their teenager instead of assuming they know them. The professional willing to abandon a failed strategy mid-project. The person who can say "I don't know" and mean it, rather than defend a shaky position. These moments feel vulnerable because they are. But they're also where real learning happens, where relationships deepen, where you stop banging your head against what isn't working. The counterintuitive part: this kind of faith isn't weaker than certainty. It's actually more stable. Certainty breaks the moment reality contradicts it. But genuine openness to truth—whatever truth turns out to be—never really fails. It just keeps adapting, which is closer to how life actually works.

Source: The Way of Zen, p. 135, 1957