We must here make a clear distinction between belief and faith, because,
in general practice, belief has come to mean a state of mind which is
almost the opposite of faith....
The believer will open his mind to the truth on the condition that it
fits in with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other
hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may
turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the
unknown. Belief clings, but faith lets go. In this sense of the word,
faith is the essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion
that is not self-deception.
-- Alan Watts. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an
Age of Anxiety (1951).