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faith and/or spirituality is and should be free of imposed, external influence. it is and should be what binds the known to the unknown, what bridges the inductive and deductive. whether one chooses a structured community of those with like beliefs or a life of questioning uncertainty; belief in a supreme being or love of nature, it is a personal, internal choice. a forced faith cannot be genuine.

what i meant by "forced faith" in my previous post was a faith forced from within because of a feeling of obligation or a desire to belong, not a faith forced from without. i don't think the former is genuine and i don't think the latter will produce anything but the former.