The term "belief" is used of an idea that one believes and for which one cannot give reason. When such ideas are of an ordinary nature they are termed superstitions, and when they are of a sacred nature they are called beliefs.

Often man confuses belief with truth. Many people, without understanding their own belief, hold it not as a truth but as the truth, and thereby ignore every other belief which seems to them different from the truth they possess. In reality belief is not the truth nor is the truth a belief. When a person has risen to the understanding of the truth it is no more a belief for him, it is a conviction.

The beliefs of a sacred nature, which come in the realm of religion, are as steps towards the goal which is called truth, and when man stops at a belief the belief holds him and he holds the belief. Neither can the belief push him onward nor can he advance. In many cases belief, which should serve as wings on which to soar toward the height, becomes as nails fixing man onto the earth. Every belief in the beginning is a step in the dark, but as man draws nearer to the goal, he at every step becomes more and more illuminated. Therefore there is hope for the believer, but the case of the unbeliever is hopeless.

There are souls who are capable of believing, even capable of understanding their belief, who yet for some reason or other are not willing to believe and reject a belief before the understanding comes. The wise course in life would be to try to become a pupil, a pupil of one teacher as well as a pupil of all beings; it is then that one will become the pupil of God. Then the wise course would be to investigate the truth of belief instead of giving up one's belief, also to be patiently tolerant of the belief of another until one sees from his point of view the truth of his belief. When man sees only from his own point of view, he sees with one eye and the other eye is closed. The complete view is in seeing from both points of view, however contrary they may be. It is this tendency which will balance things and will give the right idea of things. In order to view a building one must stand in the street and view it, instead of standing inside it and wanting to see the outside.

In understanding beliefs one must be able to neutralize one's spirit, and to the extent to which it is neutralized man becomes capable of seeing the belief in its right sense. When man says, on hearing something from another, "That is not what I believe," he shows his weakness, he shows his incapacity to view the belief of the other from the point of view of that other. Knowledge comes by readiness to learn, and when we refuse it in life it is by lack of readiness. No matter from what source knowledge may seem to come, it is from one source in reality, and when the mind becomes a free receptacle knowledge flows freely into the heart. There is some truth hidden in every religious belief, and often it is of greater value than it may seem to be. And believing in a thing without understanding is a first step forward to knowledge, and refusing to believe when a belief is presented means taking a step backward. When a person is content with his belief that is a comfortable state of being, but it is the understanding of the belief which is ideal.