Faith

Richard Dawkins, the famous author of the Selfish Gene, once said that as a scientist he would never subscribe to anything that required a leap of faith. I understand where he is coming from and for me this attitude separates spirituality from religion. On a spiritual path you are led by a force that you can observe and study, and this force takes you to a higher spiritual plane. But eventually you have reached a point where you have constructed a way of perceiving this metaphysical force when you actually make this leap of faith and embrace it completely. To Richard Dawkins I would point out that every scientist who discovers a new way of looking at this world has to do the same. Of course, the spiritual path traveler has to be as honest as the scientist to admit afterwards if the observed experience doesn't stand up to the mental construct. But at this brief moment of testing your hypothesis, you have to have Dido's mindset:

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be.

Dido, White Flag