And then you strip it down to the essentials. One of those essentials: Faith. You are left with having "faith in faith." A belief in the act of faith; belief in believing in something you can't prove or point to.
I am not talking about dogma or religion. Just a faith in having faith. It's not much, it's a very slim reed to cling to. It's a paltry thing to stake a life on; but it's one of the essentials just the same.