A first book in psychology (4th rev. ed.).Faith and belief as related to will.

Abstract

Faith, as distinct from will, is an adopting or acknowledging, not an imperious, demanding phase of consciousness; it lays emphasis not on myself but on the 'other self.' In the attitude of will, I subordinate others to myself; in that of faith or loyalty, I submit myself to others. In the mood of will, I am 'captain of my soul'; in my faith, I acknowledge another leader. Yet faith, like will, is an assertive, not a receptive, attitude of one self to other selves. It is no emotional sinking beneath the force of opponent or environment, but a spontaneous, self-initiated experience, the identification of oneself with another's cause, the throwing oneself into another's life, or the espousal of another's interests. Primarily, the attitude of acknowledgment and adoption is a relation to other selves: in other words, the object of faith is a self or selves. By belief, on the other hand, is meant the assertive attitude of a self to an impersonal object. Faith and belief differ from will mainly in that each is, as has appeared, an altruistic not an egoistic, an adoptive not an imperious, attitude toward other selves or ideals or facts. So much for the difference. The similarities are more striking. The two sections of this chapter are: I. The nature and forms of faith and belief, and II. Faith and will as social attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)