Response to Blog: Beliefs

This is a response to Natasha's post on beliefs. She asks Where do our beliefs come from? Where did Plato’s beliefs about art stem from? Did he have a life changing experience with a bad piece of art one day and thus condemn it? What drives people to convince themselves that what they believe is true SHOULD be true for everyone?
I think that everyone believes something. Looking at religion, I believe in God and I know that some people don't believe . However, your not believing in something is holding a belief. A person who doesn't believe in God, holds the belief that there is no God, Confused? Good. I think that beliefs are apart of who we are. We cannot be absent of beliefs, we must believe in things in order to do or day to day tasks (i.e. some people believe it isn't OK to shower everyday so they don't. Some people believe that it is important to brush your teeth after every meal, so they do.) Beliefs shape our behaviors and who we are. Anyone absent of a belief is absent of life.
In regards to Plato, I feel his belief in art stemmed from his unwavering belief in logic. He is more about reason, and doesn't like the idea that art doesn't use reason. Art is based on "infecting" people and playing on their emotions. So from his strong belief in logic, he rejects art because it simply isn't reasonable or logical. I do not know enough about Plato's history, however I do believe his teacher (i think it was Socrates) held the same belief and therefore that belief got instilled in him. That is one thing I forgot to mention above. The environment you grow up in and what is instilled with you does affect what beliefs you hold up to a point. When you become absent from that particular environment, and start to shape your own belief from what you yourself have researched or experienced that could be said to be an additional influence to how you act about things and what values you hold.
One thing I do not do with my Christianity is force people. I would talk about God and Jesus to people and ask them if they believe and go from there. I think only close-minded people try to force things onto others because they haven't grasped the idea that EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. People find it hard to accept people as they are sometimes, and constantly believe that their view is "the right view." I don't agree with these people, but hey what are you going to do? OK so with that said, my question is, How would Tolstoy view an artist who does create work with true feeling, however he also has the idea in his head that he wants to entertain the audience as well as get a paycheck? Is wanting to make a living through art wrong in Tolstoy's eyes?