The rope of faith

[Terrance]

Doug says, 

So, imagine a window washer, on a tall skyscraper, who
TIES a safety rope to himself, RELIES on it, has FAITH
in it. " His goal is not the rope (religion) itself but the cleansing of
the windows."

I worked on a two man scaffold for years. I worked on small scaffolds
and we erected them ourselves. We had to be confident that the scaffold
was not faulty or poorly assembled,  but we never put too much faith in
tools, less so in machines because they broke and failed. I trusted old
equipment because I knew it and we maintained it. A brand new machine is
often the most dangerous, if only because you don't feel it is an
extension of yourself yet. A new scaffold puts a strain on a marriage. 

  But we put our faith in  the other guy. We trusted him with our lives.
If you were fortunate enough to stay "married" to the same guy for a
long time, work was was like making love.  You knew what felt good, how
to please your partner, how to move just so, how to tease him, playful
and safe, when you could relax and when you needed to get on top and
bang it out so he could lay back a bit. Superstitions and religions had
their part. Some guys are very superstitious. I knew one guy, who if he
dropped his hammer, would not work the rest of the day. I never saw him
drop his hammer and he never told me about this superstition, but we all
knew about it. We all had our fears and faiths.  Mostly it was labor
that united us. 

So strongly and metaphysically did I conceive of my situation then, that
while earnestly
watching his motions, I seemed distinctly to perceive that my own
individuality was now
merged in a *****joint stock company***** of two; that my free will had
received a mortal wound; and that another's mistake or misfortune might
plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death. 

http://www.americanliterature.com/MD/MD72.HTML

The Monkey-Rope