I am absolutely into this Metahistory site that I found yesterday. Expect a lot more quotes from and references to them in the near future. They have an interesting article that goes into Modes of Believing and how beliefs structure behavior, and how to examine and change them and stuff. One of my favorite entries is the one called “ludic belief”:

ludic belief: able to be modified by playing with it.

The word delusion comes from the Latin suffix de, meaning “from, away” and the Latin verb ludere, “to play”. Going strictly by the etymology, delusion means “what leads away from play”. One might formulate a rule: any belief you hold that you cannot play with may be delusional.

Man, that’s good stuff. Also, while I’m at it, here’s another item from their site for safe-keeping:

Every religion consists of a belief-system framed and created by its originators. To accept a story is to adopt its beliefs. In a moral sense, the believer belongs to the story, because he or she enacts the belief it carries.