One believed what one was told to believe, what it made sense to believe. Unless one was a foreigner, of course, or a philosopher. - Iain Banks

But there we are. Some things never do make perfect sense. There must be some explanation, and it is perhaps a little like the Doctrine of the Perfect Partner. We must be content to know that she exists, somewhere in the world, and try not to care overmuch that we will probably never meet her.

In the old days he had once wondered how many of the Cessorian high command, his old bosses, really believed in the Truth. He strongly suspected that the higher you went, the greater grew the proportion of those who didn’t really believe at all. They were in it for the power, the glory, the control and the glamour.

Well, it all sounds most unpleasant," Droffo said. He shook his head. "You hear all sorts of ridiculous stories; the workers are full of them. Too much drink, too little learning."
"No, more than that, sir," Neguste told him. "These are facts."
"I think I might dispute that," Droffo said.
"All the same, sir, facts is facts. That itself's a fact.