J.F. Clarke quote

All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
-- James Freeman Clarke

This seems to sum up a central issue in my life. What do I have faith in? For me, this is not a burning crisis, but a chronic issue. How are we more than bumbling bags of water and protein? I don't know, but I (almost) have faith that we are. How is Los Angeles different from an overgrown bacterial culture on an agar plate? How is love more than a complex, multifaceted addiction? Are religious experiences (of which I have no experience) no more than a delusional artifact? To this latter question William James rebuts,

If there were such a thing as inspiration from a higher realm, it might well be that the neurotic temperament would furnish the chief condition of the requisite receptivity.
-- The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 1. (See also this quote.)

And there are more modern, less clear ideas about the interaction of brain and 'spirit' as well.

Of course, there are other types of faith than the religious, and for me, Clarke's quote really provokes more thought about what to do with the next five years in grad school, as opposed to brooding on any of these existential dilemmas. I can have fun working on just about any problem in neuroscience; what problems do I have faith in as being important?