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Readers will find in this book a primer comprised of 26 little doors by which to enter into the heart of a particularly elusive subject. The incomparable advance of proven knowledge and of universally verifiable theories have not weakened public opinion or the reign of confidence (thus also of mistrust). If such is the case, why should we be satisfied with a mere presentation based solely on the logic of an arbitrary hypothesis which is not even symbolically, but only literally true? What compels us to accept belief at face value? The unequivocal answer is because its spirit eludes us, or rather it is so volatile that we have scarcely any hope of grasping it.Philosophic discourse (with the exception of Hume’s, not to mention Pascal’s) ordinarily dismisses belief, treating it as an unfounded doxy, or idiotic gullibility (if not extravagant fantasy). A long idealist tradition has never ceased to label it as presumptive and improvable, a self-delusion based on false knowledge, failing to notice that the verb “to believe” merits neither the distinction of being compared to a “state of knowing” (even when challenged), nor to the indignity of being called a systematic indulgence towards non-being and illusion.This is one of the reasons why verbs here are favoured over the substantive. Readers of this book are invited to accompany “belief” on its historical journey from A to Z, hopping from one letter to the next, just as they would from stone to stone when crossing a creek.
