Blind Faith vs Rational Faith

It is of course necessary to remember that faith implies the acceptance of truths proposed by authority. But this element of submission in faith must not be so over-emphasized that it seems to constitute the whole essence of faith: as if a mere unloving, unenlightened, dogged submission to the will of authority were enough to make a ‘man of faith’. If this element of will is over-emphasized, then the difference between faith in the intellect and simple obedience in the will becomes obscured. In certain cases this can be very unhealthy, because actually if there is no light of faith, no interior illumination of the mind by grace by which one accepts the proposed truth from God and thereby attains to it, so to speak, in His divine assurance, then inevitably the mind lacks the true peace, the supernatural support which is due it. In that event there is not real faith. The positive element of light is lacking. There is a forced suppression of doubt rather than the opening of the eye of the heart by deep belief. ~ Thomas Merton, the New Seeds of Contemplation

What kind of faith do we have? Is our faith and what we believe merely the blind acceptance of truths proposed by church authority? Is this personal faith or just blind obedience? Should we believe some theology or doctrine just because it is widely accepted by most Christians? Can we have our own beliefs based on our own understanding of God’s Word? But then, isn’t this how the cults and false teachings are formed, when everyone has their own interpretation of Scripture? Being someone who likes to question my own faith and the faith of other Christians, I find it difficult sometimes to accept some views that are widely accepted by many Christians. Of course, more often than not, these are the nonessentials rather than the essentials of Christian theology.

Actually, our whole life is a mystery of which very little comes to our conscious understanding. But when we accept only what we can consciously rationalize, our life is actually reduced to the most pitiful limitations, though we may think quite otherwise. (We have been brought up with the absurd prejudice that only what we can reduce to a rational and conscious formula is really understood and experienced in our life. When we can say what a thing is, or what we are doing, we think we fully grasp and experience it. In point of fact, this verbalization – very often it is nothing more than verbalization – tends to cut us off from genuine experience and to obscure our understanding instead of increasing it.) ~ Thomas Merton, the New Seeds of Contemplation

This makes me think: Why do I need my faith to be rational and intellectual? Why is my faith so much in my head and not in my heart? Can this be just as harmful as blind, unquestioned faith?