Belief is the purported relationship between cause and effect. A belief consists of an outcome, actions expected to bring it about, and reasons to believe that such is the case.
People hold all types of beliefs—strongly reasoned beliefs, weak beliefs, wishes, and lies. A belief can have any quantity of reasons, from zero to many, each with some degree of strength or lack thereof.
A belief that has no known reasons is a wish. Wishes may, in fact, be true. An absence of known reasons does not imply that reasons don’t exist. However, without good reasons to believe them, beliefs will not inspire the believer with sufficient confidence to do hard things—at least, not for very long.
Beliefs can be true even when there are reasons not to believe them. However, unless there exist stronger reasons for believing than disbelieving such a belief, it is dishonest to continue to believe such a belief until or unless new information is found.
Belief can come through reason, desire, or both. Beliefs founded on desire alone are not as powerful as beliefs founded on both reason and desire. You won’t act for very long or against much opposition unless you have both reasons and desire.
Belief founded on reason alone will not always win over alternatives based only on desire—you are always free to choose what to believe.