There is a way of having faith in something, a way of believing in something, that is more akin to a well-entrenched hope or expectation than an attitude that is the product of inquiry. Life, it seems, requires a framework of hopes and expectations that make it both coherent and meaningful. Believing that someone loves you can be like this. The thought of not being loved might be so hard to entertain that you take being loved for granted. It is like the air you breathe: you fail to notice it until it is in short supply. Of course, faith in other things can be similar. For example, you might believe that you have the talent to embark on a medical career, never questioning your ambition until you attempt to master the science involved. Or you might have faith in your own character, until temptation becomes a possibility you thought you would never entertain. Consider also the shock of learning of someone you thought to be an ordinary person doing something extraordinarily bad. Was it that you had good reasons for thinking that such horrible behavior was beyond the pale of everyday people, or was the faith in the decency of ordinary folks a background belief that made life palatable?