Make a list of what you assume to be true, the axioms of your life. For example, I sat with a cup of coffee this morning to list my own assumptions. I might, with another cup of coffee or in a discussion with someone, decide to revise my following list of 30 assumptions. Certainly, thoughts derived during a single cup's consumption aren't the most thoroughly developed of ideas.
I assume:
1.That I can discern the differences between most falsehoods and truths, and I can also discern the difference between Falsehood and Truth.
2.That, in contradiction to #1, I rely on emotion as well as on reason in that discernment, so that in relying on both emotion and reason, I open myself up to errors, including the possibility that #1 is a fiction I tell myself to establish psychological security.
3.That I am subject to external influences and internal drives, some of which are endemic to my species and others endemic to my physiology and neither of which I always recognize.
4.That I am at times, therefore, subject to—driven by—unrecognizable motivations.
5.That no matter how astutely I argue, I will miss the mark of becoming infallible; as a corollary, I believe that others, too, always miss that mark, giving me a way to challenge and defeat the ideas and arguments of others.
6.That because of #5, all the tenets and conclusions of philosophy and psychology are subject to unending debate or refinement.
7.That regardless of my assumption that I can discern between both truths and Truth and their antitheses (#1) and because of my assumption that I cannot be infallible (#5), I am ultimately a relativist no matter how I strive to find or live by absolutes.
8.That as a relativist (#7), I can always find a justification for any action because I cannot avoid arguing on the basis of a situation, that is, on the basis of the circumstance at hand or in light of my limitations (#7).
9.That I am, regardless of my attempts to be otherwise, shortsighted.
10.That my shortsightedness can sometimes be countered by happenstance, making me in retrospect look to be farsighted.
11.That like minds can join readily, but that unlike minds only rarely join.
12.That because of #11, human social and political interactions occur in mental mazes with few and difficult-to-find intersections.
13.That out-of-body experiences, while rare, are possible not because of floods of neurotransmitters, but rather because mind is not limited to the boundaries of the brain.
14.That because of #13, #11 is possible.
15.That a complete explanation of Nature is impossible; and, as a corollary, since I am part of Nature, that I will always remain somewhat mysterious to others and to myself.
16.That I am the Cosmos temporarily and partially conscious of itself.
17.That a complete explanation of consciousness is impossible.
18.That humans and animals can be simultaneously aware of circumstances and perceive them similarly.
19.That as a result of that simultaneity of awareness, both humans and animals can act in concert.
20.That free will, though impossible to demonstrate irrefutably, shapes personal and human history and drives all forms of entrepreneurship.
21.That I have a physical reality regardless of my knowledge that matter is itself inexplicably composed mostly of nothing.
22.That place and life are intertwined and that they mutually affect each other’s form and function.
23.That place is more significant than time.
24.That physical laws on which the Cosmos operates are endemic to this universe and are, therefore, part of this universe.
25.That the Cosmos did not, as Stephen Hawking argued, come into existence from nothing because physical law demanded it since by definition nothing could have no physical law.
26.That the Cosmos did have a beginning and that contrary to the belief of some physicists that the universe is part of an infinite regress of “branes” or previous universes (the old “it’s turtles all the way down” story), any such explanation is untenable.
27.That although much in the universe seems to make the appearance of consciousness either unlikely or unlikely to persist after its establishment, that the universe, having originated from nothing had to have a conscious creator.
28.That all attempts to explain a Creator fall prey to relativism (#7).
29.That a belief in a Creator, regardless of my admitted relativism, is more acceptable than any belief or argument that the laws of nature demanded Being’s being.
30.That an evolving Cosmos with its endemic evolving life is an undeniable reality as evidenced by historical and current phenomena and processes.
I assume:
1.That I can discern the differences between most falsehoods and truths, and I can also discern the difference between Falsehood and Truth.
2.That, in contradiction to #1, I rely on emotion as well as on reason in that discernment, so that in relying on both emotion and reason, I open myself up to errors, including the possibility that #1 is a fiction I tell myself to establish psychological security.
3.That I am subject to external influences and internal drives, some of which are endemic to my species and others endemic to my physiology and neither of which I always recognize.
4.That I am at times, therefore, subject to—driven by—unrecognizable motivations.
5.That no matter how astutely I argue, I will miss the mark of becoming infallible; as a corollary, I believe that others, too, always miss that mark, giving me a way to challenge and defeat the ideas and arguments of others.
6.That because of #5, all the tenets and conclusions of philosophy and psychology are subject to unending debate or refinement.
7.That regardless of my assumption that I can discern between both truths and Truth and their antitheses (#1) and because of my assumption that I cannot be infallible (#5), I am ultimately a relativist no matter how I strive to find or live by absolutes.
8.That as a relativist (#7), I can always find a justification for any action because I cannot avoid arguing on the basis of a situation, that is, on the basis of the circumstance at hand or in light of my limitations (#7).
9.That I am, regardless of my attempts to be otherwise, shortsighted.
10.That my shortsightedness can sometimes be countered by happenstance, making me in retrospect look to be farsighted.
11.That like minds can join readily, but that unlike minds only rarely join.
12.That because of #11, human social and political interactions occur in mental mazes with few and difficult-to-find intersections.
13.That out-of-body experiences, while rare, are possible not because of floods of neurotransmitters, but rather because mind is not limited to the boundaries of the brain.
14.That because of #13, #11 is possible.
15.That a complete explanation of Nature is impossible; and, as a corollary, since I am part of Nature, that I will always remain somewhat mysterious to others and to myself.
16.That I am the Cosmos temporarily and partially conscious of itself.
17.That a complete explanation of consciousness is impossible.
18.That humans and animals can be simultaneously aware of circumstances and perceive them similarly.
19.That as a result of that simultaneity of awareness, both humans and animals can act in concert.
20.That free will, though impossible to demonstrate irrefutably, shapes personal and human history and drives all forms of entrepreneurship.
21.That I have a physical reality regardless of my knowledge that matter is itself inexplicably composed mostly of nothing.
22.That place and life are intertwined and that they mutually affect each other’s form and function.
23.That place is more significant than time.
24.That physical laws on which the Cosmos operates are endemic to this universe and are, therefore, part of this universe.
25.That the Cosmos did not, as Stephen Hawking argued, come into existence from nothing because physical law demanded it since by definition nothing could have no physical law.
26.That the Cosmos did have a beginning and that contrary to the belief of some physicists that the universe is part of an infinite regress of “branes” or previous universes (the old “it’s turtles all the way down” story), any such explanation is untenable.
27.That although much in the universe seems to make the appearance of consciousness either unlikely or unlikely to persist after its establishment, that the universe, having originated from nothing had to have a conscious creator.
28.That all attempts to explain a Creator fall prey to relativism (#7).
29.That a belief in a Creator, regardless of my admitted relativism, is more acceptable than any belief or argument that the laws of nature demanded Being’s being.
30.That an evolving Cosmos with its endemic evolving life is an undeniable reality as evidenced by historical and current phenomena and processes.
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