Truth? Belief? How do you know?
If you declare something to be true simply based on it being a belief, well then you don’t know what truth is as a concept, how it is determined, or what a belief is.
What is in existence, exists, and is what is. If you can demonstrate something is, is existent, then it is, and it is a truth. If something cannot be demonstrated as something that is, then it is not a truth. Do you follow this very simply logic at how you can determine if something is a truth or not? If you cannot demonstrate an imagined possible reality as reality, then it is a belief and may likely be an unreality in the end, unless you can demonstrate otherwise.
A belief is something that cannot be demonstrated as reality and truth, yet is bound and attached to as reality and truth, because of the loyalty, trust and faith given to this imagination in desiring it to be real and true. Reality doesn’t work that way, simply based on what you strongly wish, want or desire to be true but cannot demonstrate. Not only that, many beliefs are contrary to universal truths such as causality and logic, and cannot be sustained as a logical possibility of reality or truth, even through it is not yet demonstrable as a reality or truth. Valid possibilities from beliefs can eventually be demonstrated.
There are valid beliefs as possibilities that lead to authentic truth, as long as they are not held in loyalty, trust and faith, bound and attached to them being real and true despite only being a creation of imagination at the moment. Democritus may have envisioned the concept of atoms by inducing it from reality, but until this possibility from reality could be demonstrated, it was an honest belief at best, or maybe an attached belief that was bound to in trust, loyalty and faith. When this possibility or probability could be demonstrated, then it became a truth. You cannot call something true before you can verify if it is true. Otherwise, I imagine something, I declare it to be “true” without verification, and then it becomes “true”, even though it was always and forever false and only imaginary. Truth is not truth without verification and demonstrations of it being what is in existence, in reality, as truth. Any one can claim something to be real and true, and never demonstrate it, and you never verify it, and then you simply believe it to be true, having trust, loyalty and faith in it being true, then you are attached and bound to unreality as reality.
I am not against valid beliefs that are not bounded or attached to. I have said it over and over, recognize the difference between possible, probable and actual reality and truth.There are 2 types of belief: 1) legitimate beliefs in possibilities, that we are not attached to, that allow us to discover truth, or remain as beliefs and imagination, but never taken as literal truth and reality; or 2) beliefs based in attachment, in which we are bound to by loyalty, trust and faith and try to make, invent, create and generate as a reality from our imagination (government, religion, money, corporations, God, etc.). Bring the fantasy to reality if you can invent something for real, good or bad, it will become part of reality, but it is there. So please do imagine, dream and believe, it is fine and good, just don’t take them as legitimate reality and truth when they are not! This is when belief becomes a poison, when they are taken as literal reality and truth, to make an unreality into reality.