Ten random beliefs meme

I love a good meme, and once again Ken of C. Orthodoxy has passed on a zinger. Here are the rules, from the meme's originator, Clayboy:

Post a collection of 10 things you believe, ethical, philosophical or theological. You choose how much to connect them or make them coherent: do you want people to know where you belong, or do you want to mix and match to keep them guessing? I encourage you not to aim for a totally coherent credal statement of faith, and I also encourage you to put one or two in about controversial topics.

Let's see...

1. I believe that ultimate truths may be within our reach as a species, but absolute certainty is not.
2. I believe there is a lot of potential value in symbols and stories, and that religions make better use of this value than humanist communities and individuals tend to. (I also believe that their power can make symbols and stories dangerous if used irresponsibly.)
   
3. I believe that claims about what is physically true are of a different sort to claims about what is good or moral. The former are simple facts, independent of perspective, existing with or without observers. The latter are at least relative to (and so dependent on) our nature as a social species. They are not, however, relative to our personal whims and desires.
4. I believe that scientific skepticism is a healthy and appropriate attitude to any belief that people want to persuade me of.
   
5. I believe that a person's actions are more important than their beliefs. Beliefs are mainly important to the extent that they inform and motivate actions. (I also believe that a shocking number of people spend more time rationalizing actions that clash with their beliefs than they spend trying to tailor their actions to their beliefs.)
6. I believe that powdered cheese is one of the most pernicious evils of modern society, followed closely by processed cheese slices and liquid cheese.
7. I believe that questions of good and evil are properly independent of questions of the existence of any god. (I believe that the ethical framework I try to follow would be equally valid whether or not a god exists.)
8. I believe that consciousness is a product of physical processes in my brain and body.
9. I believe that consciousness is the most important thing in the universe.
   
10. I believe we must always accept the possibility that we might be wrong, but that we should not live in fear of it happening. (This one is cribbed shamelessly from Ken, because it suits me so well.)
11. I believe that every cell in my body is a direct descendent of some primordial replicator that appeared on Earth around 3.5 billion years ago.
12. I believe that free software (and Linux in particular) is a woefully under-experienced joy in the world.
13. I believe that my wife is beautiful and my daughter is smart (and vice versa).
14. I believe that, like James McGrath, I need to learn about counting to ten.
    

I'm reluctant to tag people, but if you choose to pick up this meme, please post a link in the comments.