Assumptions

   One of the most important things I have done that has freed me from the troubles of this world and allowed me to take hold of God has been to become aware of the assumptions I have about the big picture, assumptions that are rarely discussed and which seem to be taught to each of us nonverbally by simply interacting with other people as soon as we are born. These assumptions may seem philosophical or esoteric, but I can say with confidence that reflecting on them and deliberately choosing what I assume has transformed every aspect of my life and the way I see everything. Most people would jump on an easy job that paid $1,000 an hour, right? Think of this work like that. Let me list what I can conjure up:

   You may be telling yourself that you shouldn't make assumptions, and some philosophies even have this as a component. You may not agree with or understand the logical arguments made above which would render the possible assumptions less than arbitrary. Consider, however, that whenever you take an action you must first make a decision, and when you decide something you are calling upon your assumptions to calculate what you decide. Your assumptions get used whether you explicitly choose them or not. The choices you make, consciously or unconsciously, depend on what to assume and have ramifications which extend to your entire experience, including the course your life is taking, your goals, the person you believe you are becoming, how you feel, etc. etc. This isn't doctrine, it is my observation, based on years of reflection, but I believe everyone is capable of reflecting on the workings of their own assumptions and observing the same thing. Once you see this it will be like finding the key to yourself in your own hand.

   The Garden analogy

   Imagine that your mind is like a garden, and that as soon as you were born the world started scattering seeds on it, mostly weeds, which grew and became a wilderness. Even if you were lucky enough to find a seed from the Tree of Life and you planted it in the middle of your garden, the sprout would be quickly overtaken by the surrounding weeds and disappear. In the same way, even when I identify important assumptions which underlie my worldview and deliberately choose different ones, the ramifications which emanated from the old assumptions, and which still control my decisions and actions, act to suppress and overturn my new assumptions. It takes time to train the fertilizer of my attention to apply itself only to my chosen assumptions and their fruit, and to ignore the old assumptions and their fruit. It also takes time to tease apart the good plants from the bad ones, since they can seem intertwined, and learn to recognize what is good for me and what is destroying me. In practice, this means reevaluating the beliefs stemming from my old assumptions, examining my motives and decision making processes to consciously employ my new assumptions, and let the experience of acting on my new assumptions reinforce my faith in them.

   If you would like to discuss the material here, please join the Puzzle Piece forum. Questions asked there may end up on the FAQ for convenient consolidation.

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