In a discussion, someone said about emuna that knowing that we are maaminim doesn't help him. It's a concept, not a reality to him.
Which led to the question - do we cultivate emuna or generate emuna?
Cultivate would mean to develop what is already there. To generate would mean to produce it when it wasn't there before.
I was surprised he said what he said. I think we think differently about emuna if we know it's inherent, and not something external that we have to acquire. If I had some way of knowing about a latent talent that I have, for music or art or anything else, I would try to cultivate it! If I had some way of knowing that I had no ability in a certain area, I wouldn't put my efforts in that direction.
We are told that we are "believers, children of believers." That's who we are. Emuna is not extraneous to us. It's right here.
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Perhaps when you suggest that emunah comes naturally and must merely be cultivated, you can clarify your intent in the word "emunah". Studies have found that all children--not only "believers, children of believers"--naturally conceive of nature in terms of a Designer: http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/04/story_time_psyc084701.html
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