Belief is the first step

For pop Buddhists like Stephen Batchelor (author of Buddhism Without Beliefs) and his minions, belief or faith can be, and often is, a nasty word. Belief or faith is often taken to be a religious term. But as far as real Buddhism or real science is concerned belief is the kindergarten stage leading to correct understanding. It is a first step of many steps in other words.

If researchers, for example, didn't believe than cancer is curable then why research it? What might be the purpose of research without a firm belief in a cure? Back in the early 1960s, if I had not firmly believed that pure Mind was attainable, being my ordinary thoughts in an agitated, oscillating form, I wouldn't have spent so many years trying to discover such a Mind through meditation (dhyana).

Unlike some of the hare brains who claim to be Buddhists but who refuse to believe that pure Mind is the very substance of the universe, my beliefthe kindergarten stagehelped to free me from spiritual ignorance and eventually helped me to realize that the Buddha's teachings are pointing to pure Mind.

While it is true that many beliefs dont take us beyond the kindergarten level which, over time, can turn into dogma so that one becomes a true believer belief, in general, is always calling on us to advance; to search for the truth; to see the way things really arenot just hoping that our beliefs are somehow right without further testing.