'faith is...' -- the view of scøüpe

"now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (hebrews 11:1). belief is not faith. faith is that for which one chooses to hope. belief is that which one cannot deny. a man cannot choose to believe anything. either he believes it or not; either it is true to him or not - there is no choice involved.
i believe in gravity - not because i think it is a good idea to do so, nor because i wish it to be true. want and desire have no bearing on true belief. all that i have known and seen since birth support the idea of gravity and therefore i cannot consciously deny it. to all of my senses and through all of my experiences and by all of the knowledge i have gained in life it is true. therefore, i can do naught save to believe it to be so.
the same holds true for all my beliefs, though not all have been held since childhood. but did i not believe in gravity before i knew it as such? did i not learn as an infant that when i drop my rattle it will fall to the floor? did this phenomenon need a name or pedantic support which i could reference to strengthen my belief? no. but did that change the force of gravity or cause it to be any less true?
i believe in gravity because i cannot deny it. regardless of my faith or understanding thereof, it is. by this same design, i believe in God. because despite my lack of knowledge or faith (moreover, despite what knowledge i may have to the contrary), i cannot deny it. i believe because i am unable to not belief.