Some time ago I commented on fact and opinion, and now I’d like to explore this a bit more, including the notion of belief.

In school we all learned to know the difference between fact and opinion, but belief wasn’t mentioned.

Let’s take an example, something uncontroversial like strawberries. Here’s a fact: Strawberries are an edible fruit. Agreed?
Now an opinion: I think strawberries are the best tasting fruit. Valid opinion, right?

Now here’s where the problem starts, the point where opinion becomes belief: Strawberries are the world’s best fruit. See how this statement leaves no room for disagreement. It you object, saying you prefer blackberries, the response would be something like: What’s wrong with you? How can you not prefer the world’s best fruit?

To discover the source of many human conflicts, simply replace “strawberries” with any statement about religion, politics, social issues, philosophy or even taste in music.

We seem to take our opinions, carve them in stone for all time, and they become our beliefs, even when evidence to the contrary is presented to us. When it was proved that the earth revolves around the sun, many people still believed the opposite. Even today, we have people who assert that the earth is flat.

It seems we need to pull out our beliefs from time to time, dust them off, re examine them and adjust or even discard them if needed.