Or it could be a load of crap he believes without proof.
Although he disagrees with Clifford about the justifiability of believing without conclusive proof, James appears to share Clifford's view that belief is subject to the will (hence the title of his essay).
Randolph Nesse, an evolutionary biologist, believes, but cannot prove, that believing things without proof is evolutionary advantageous; Ian McEwan that no part of his consciousness will survive death.
A basic property of religion is that the believer takes a leap of faith: to believe without expecting proof.
Over the course of many calls, I started finding confirmation that something really had happened in Panjwai, but either there were few details or the ones I heard were hard to believe without further proof — one elder told me that 20 people had been killed.
They take a lie, repeat it over and over, and the public believes without ever asking for proof.
It's pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain God perception.
In True Enough, Manjoo, manager of the Machinist blog at Salon.com, examines how recent developments in technology have exacerbated the fractured nature of our antagonistic, skeptical, partisan, believe-whatever-outlandishness-you-want-to-believe-without-regard-for-proof society.
I believe without seeing.
And really, I guess loving is a form of faith -- a way of believing in something without concrete proof, an illogical emotion whispering to you that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, it's worth being vulnerable enough to put your bruised and cynical old heart out there.
In the end, they either believe the proof or not.
