The Basis of Knowledge is Experience

In life there is only one knowing. It comes from experience. Imagine if you don't know what chocolate tastes like (or any food you haven't tried before). I can tell you how chocolate tastes, describe it, quantify it, and even write essays on it. But until you experience it, you won't know.
And if you don't know, then you must choose to believe (or not).

Another example: I am driving home and stop to refuel. A guy at the station says, "Don't go that way, road is blocked.!" Now in that moment, I can choose to believe him and take another route, or go down the road and see. Until then, I can only hold a belief or disbelief.

Whats my point?

Too often are people living in belief, yet are unaware of their own knowledge (or lack of). It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you know what is true from experience, and when you are just going off of what someone else said, what the internet said, what that book said, etc.

Seek knowledge through experience. This is also the basis of the scienctific method and experimentation - something that seems to have been forgotten in this day of instant information. And remember, information is not knowledge. Science is not religion, yet it is often treated just as dogmatically.

Don't believe me. That's right, I'm telling you not to believe me. Belief can give you a starting point, but it can't bring you to the end. Go and test things out for yourself.