Knowing It Vs Believing It

I’m still working on my understanding of this and would love to hear your perspective on it. There’s a subtle but fundamental difference between knowing something and believing something. They carry different energies and they’re more appropriate in different settings. I think there’s a lot of value in exploring that difference.

So far my take on it is - When you know something, it comes without a doubt. There’s a level of certainty and conviction. It’s about a set of facts and sure, the same details can be interpreted in different ways, but when you know something there’s really sound reasoning behind it. Knowing is connected to knowledge, which is more a reflection on the way things work and specific details.

When you believe something, it acknowledges more openness and room for interpretation. It suggests that you’ve drawn a certain conclusion and you’ll defend it, but it’s still negotiable. New information could conflict with what you currently believe and you’ll have to incorporate that into the next version of your understanding.

What’s really important to mention about belief, though, is there’s a lot of passion behind it. There’s more of a wanting or longing behind a belief. You’re invested in it and feel like whatever it is that you believe impacts you. It’s more emotional.

Comparing knowing and believing more directly, the core difference is the level of certainty assigned to it. But that’s to to say that more certain is better. When you believe something, you rely on faith to fill the void of the certainty you lack. And that can be an incredibly inspiring, motivating, and empowering force.

Life calls for both knowing and believing. Both are ways that you relate with the events and figures of your life, but they provide subtly different experiences.