Ahhh! This is an age-old question! How do you get to faith?...How do you come to "just know"? Jean-Paul Sartre is famous for asking and answering this question. Here is what he said about this:

Our lives are gifts that have been presented to us, without our consent or request. I know not the full purpose of that journey, but the condition of our common fate is the same for each of us. My ultimate goal has never been to be happy. Happiness is not something to avoid, but it is not a valid goal in itself. Evil is the present state of this world, and our existence is condemned to struggle against those 'Principalities of Darkness'. Our firm desire should be that justice and the rule of our supreme creator will become our reward, because of His love for each of us. So we seek to know more of those Truths that exist, and have been revealed to us. Yes, that is a belief; not reached solely through reason. It's a leap that each can make if you ask to enter. (http://batr.org/existentialism.html)[emphasis mine]

What Sartre is saying here is that we must just make a grand "leap" of faith- we just have to "jump"- and after we "jump", we come to know the answers. It can be a sudden thing, or it can be a gradual "coming to believe". I came across this dilemma first when I had to make a decision about believing in Jesus, once and for all. I saw that other people were happy; I saw that it made sense, but I wanted "proof" that such a belief would make me happier than I was. There was no such proof until after I made the decision! It is one of life's greatest ironies!

Nike is right; you have to "Just Do It".

Blessings and Love, Jai

I think it's the whole process of*self realization* and for most of us it's a crawl and not a jump.

How long it actually takes is totally dependent on the individual and how much they're willing to let go of the reins of control and trust that inner knowing that is available at all times.

I love this question...it is something I have grappled with for many years. The "How To" part....was so elusive .... As soon as I thought I touched it....I realized that I hadn't. I had begun to realize that for me... I was trying to ease into "knowing", from a point of intellect. THAT was the problem (for me). I knew where I wanted to get to (Knowing), but I was traveling the wrong road. Belief is the road of intellect and knowing is the road of Feeling. >>> To me, Belief and Knowing .....are like two complimentary (one feeds the other) yet opposing forces (like yin and yang).

We believe that which is told, or taught to us, or observed and processed via our intellectual capabilities. And belief can be readily changed...given new information. Knowing comes from a different place. Do you believe in God .... or do you know there is God ? One is thinking, the other is feeling.

So, when I need to transform a Belief...into Knowing... I mentally call, pull and reach for the feeling aspect that compliments and completes that belief. The Universe has always managed to put together some type of "life situation" ....in which to incite knowingness...about that particular thing. ~ss

I think the question could be When Do You Go From Forgetting to Remembering

It is not a forward process event. All is already known and all information already out there. So when we think we are learning, we are really just remembering. That is why the effortless un-timebound transition is so seamless. The Ah-Ha moment is a great example of this, so are Muses. The moment you learn something , in that split millisecond, don't you feel as if you didn't really learn something new but just remembered?

“All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be — don’t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.”

~ Osho

When I take away control and let God in control I haven't a need to switch from believing to knowing. This is because it is not in my hands but God's hands who made the universe and loves me as his son.