"core assumptions"

All knowledge is not true but we act on knowledge we trust is true. We spend great amount of time collecting data and analyzing it to insure our actions are the best for us to take. Of course we are subject to many self-serving biases, such as confirmation, stereotype, and attribution, which can lead us to erroneous conclusions for our action.

However, at the heart of your thinking, feeling and acting is what is called "core assumptions."  These are beliefs you hold dear because of what you trust to be absolutely true, giving you the faith to act on them. We might say that “core assumptions” are what you believe, but you cannot prove, and do not debate, but use to prove everything else you believe. It doesn’t matter how smart or clever you are, you have basic beliefs that all of your rational conclusions emerge from. 

No one really knows where you get your core assumptions, but some experts believe that you are influenced in your formative years by people, culture, and experiences that made a significant impact, positively or negatively, on your development. Core assumptions are the basis for your worldviews that influence how you feel, think and act using filters and biases built into your human nature.

In proving theorems in science, which is the process many use to finding truth, scientists start with core assumptions. In faith they believe something from which they use rational arguments to build further conclusions. Mathematicians call these self evident truths “axioms” and “postulates”. The reality is that regardless of how logical the scientists are and how strong they believe their assumptions, if the initial assumptions are not absolutely true, the conclusions reached are flawed. Darwin confessed in developing the theory of evolution that if his core assumption is ever determined to be wrong, then his theory does not hold to be true.

There are many things in your life you assume to be true that seem self evident. Some people have confessed that they trust that the father they know is their biological father and they were born where they are told is their birthplace without DNA tests or eye witness accounts. The reality of life is that each of us adopt core assumptions that we can’t get or need absolute proof. Often we are not fully conscious of what makes our core assumptions because they are so dearly and closely held that we never question them.  You will be amazed when you compare what you demand proof of, like the existence of God, and at the same time accept knowledge to be true that you never question. Accepting knowledge as true without the burden of proof and refusing to accept knowledge because we do not have 100% proof is a significant problem in worldviews. Either can leave us with core assumptions that hold us back from living an abundant and virtuous life.

Experts in decision-making have found that we all are subject to what is called “bounded rationality”, regardless of how smart we are. There comes a point when we have to decide and act because we can never get all the facts and even if we could, our minds are limited and flawed, incapable of correctly exploring all the possible decision paths to select the best solution. Deciding and acting on decisions ultimately requires us to have faith is something we have not been able to prove.

I can't prove what I just said, its one of my core assumptions ....