Whatever answers faith gives, regardless of which faith, or to whom the answers were given, such answers always give an infinite meaning to the finite existence of man; a meaning that is not destroyed by suffering, deprivation or death. This means that only in faith can we find the meaning and possibility of life. I realized that the essential meaning of faith lies not only in the 'manifestation of things unseen', or in revelation (being only a description of one of the signs of faith); nor is it simply the relationship between man and God; nor is it an agreement with what one has been told, although this is what faith is commonly understood to be. Faith is a knowledge of the meaning of human life, the consequence of which is that man does not kill himself but lives. Faith is the force of life. If a man lives, then he must believe in something. If he does not believe that there is something to live for he would not live. Without faith it is impossible to live.

Confession by Leo Tolstoy