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DEFINITIONS
"When "faith" is said to be "shaken," we may mean that, though the desire may remain, doubt is not "put at a distance;" or that the Conscience no longer approves of the desire; or that the desire itself is weakened.
xiv. Belief
Belief (when it is not used for Faith) means a sense, mixed with doubt, that the affirmations of our mind will harmonize with Experience.[1]
xv. Certainty, or Conviction
Certainty, or Conviction, is a sense, unmixed with doubt, that the affirmations of our mind will harmonize with Experience.
xvi. Knowledge
1. Absolute knowledge, which is possessed by no man, would be an identity between our mental affirmations and those of the Creator; who knows all things in their Essence and Causes.
2. Knowledge (relative and ordinary) is (very often) a name loosely given to a harmony between our mental affirmations and the affirmations of the vast majority of those who have (or are thought by the majority to have) the best opportunities for observation and judgment.
It might be more usefully defined as those mental
- ↑ Some might prefer "harmonize with experience or with fact." But "harmony with fact" can never be proved: you can only prove harmony with your experience, or with the general experience, of the fact; or with experience of what others say about the fact.
