Does belief give enthusiasm? Can enthusiasm sustain itself without a belief, and is enthusiasm at all necessary, or is a different kind of energy needed, a different kind of vitality, drive? Most of us have enthusiasm for something or other. We are very keen, very enthusiastic about concerts, about physical exercise, or going to a picnic. Unless it is nourished all the time by something or other, it fades away and we have a new enthusiasm for other things. Is there a self-sustaining force, energy, which doesn’t depend on a belief?

The other question is: Do we need a belief of any kind, and if we do, why is it necessary? That’s one of the problems involved. We don’t need a belief that there is sunshine, the mountains, the rivers. We don’t need a belief that we and our wives quarrel. We don’t have to have a belief that life is a terrible misery with its anguish, conflict, and constant ambition; it is a fact. But we demand a belief when we want to escape from a fact into an unreality.