Belief
What fills the gap when you badly want to know something and do not have the facts.
The glossary's definition is unusually pointed: belief occurs when you really want to know but do not have the facts, so you simply believe you know. And it names belief as a key tool the ego uses to cover up fears it cannot or will not deal with.
The position that follows is uncomfortable and consistent: beliefs are always a problem. Not merely religious ones — scientific ones, personal ones, and beliefs about My Big TOE itself. Campbell's own instruction to readers is not to believe him but to go and have their own experience.
The replacement is not certainty but a method. Treat new ideas as possibilities, assign them a probability from your own experience, gather data without filtering it, actively look for facts that contradict you, and be doubly sceptical of your own conclusions.
Where this gets misread
That positive or useful beliefs are exempt. They are not. The stated problem is structural — a belief is what you use in place of knowing, whatever its content.
My Big TOE glossary: Belief; How to Engage My Big TOE(opens in a new tab)