If you question your results then check your assumptions.  I read this sentence in a book written by Ayn Rand called Atlas Shrugged. This is a big book.  It takes a long time to read.  I highly recommend it.  The point is that assumptions are the building blocks of context.  And context is, arguably, the most important factor in what determines one’s reality.  Perceived reality (is there any other kind?) is a result.  In fact, the culmination of everyone’s perceived reality results in LIFE.   What are assumptions? To assume means to take for granted.  An assumption is an unconscious and sometimes a conscious belief.  A belief is an acceptance of certain things being true or real.  Faith is an unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence.  Sure, I know what some of you are thinking right now.  You are thinking that your assumptions are perhaps a belief but you are not willing to include the word faith in this discussion.  You believe that your assumptions are based on proof and evidence.  And you are right to a degree.  Some of your assumptions are based on proof and evidence.  Or at least they are based on enough proof and/or evidence for you to accept them as true and reliable.  I challenge you to keep an open mind.  I would submit, at this point, that faith is the true foundation of all belief and, therefore, the foundation of all assumptions.  What do you think?

The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen….(Heb II, 11:1). Faith is the lynchpin that connects desire to fullfillment. A charged word for sure. The Kabbalists identify the enemy in this life as Doubt. It’s opposite is certainty. Faith is the faculty each of has to increase our level of certainty. Acquiring Type 1 diabetes knocks certainty out of us like getting the wind knocked out of you. The path back to faith requires patience and perserverance.

I read only one of Ayn Rand’s Books, Atlas Shrugged. I will always remember one quote from that book that made an impact on me……”If you question your results then check your assumptions.” This has influenced me particularly as I continue to pursue my insidious journey for Truth. I see assumptions as foundational structures of perspective. Perspective is attained through a lens of beliefs, conclusions, opinions, habits of thought, attitude, etc. These can all be and are assumptions. A perspective can be and ultimately is a result. My problem has always been a gap of consciousness between results and assumptions. In other words I really have never held a firm and convicted perspective and have seldom been integral, committed and had faith in my assumptions. This is probably due to my ultimate goal of avoiding responsibility and accountability for my outcomes. What a shame. Nevertheless, the universe continues to slowly and tenderly torture me by, ever so softly, putting in front of my niave and gullable mind the thoughts, insights and wisdom of the sages and prophets. Kabbalah talks of “Bread of Shame” as one of the causes of the birth of creation. Our souls wanted to “earn” their fullfillment. Our souls wanted it to be set up so that we were the cause of our own fullfillment.

In the beggining, before the moment of creation it was not set up this way. Rather, any desire our souls had was fullfilled immediately and completely. Bread of Shame is the feeling of guilt and emptiness one feels when one discovers that fullfillment was not earned or deserved. In order for this to occur….God, who is the primal source of all fullfillment, needed to withdraw himself from the picture, if only for a moment. This resulted in the Big Bang and our present reality. Krishmamurti said that …”The paradox of the paradox is the paradox.” The interplay between desire and fullfillment is a 3 person play. Enter stage left…….Desire, the first paradox. Where do these desires come from? Why are some stronger than others? Why do they so often conflict with each other? Enter Stage Right…..Fullfillment, the second paradox. What is fullfillment? Is it happiness? Is it success? Is it Love? Am I the cause of it or not? Enter Center Stage, The third paradox. An Assumption to be sure. It is koan while at the same time an action. It can be understood in comtemplation of a deep Kabbalistic insight….”Fullfillment is the seed of Desire.” In other words, Fullfillment came first. In fact, fullfillment created desire. The third paradox is the filament of the light bulb connecting the negative pole of the power source (DESIRE) with the positive pole of the power source (FULLFILLMENT). It is often characterized as resistance or restriction.

So The paradox of Desire is that Fullfillment is attained through Resistance to The Fullfillment of the Desire itself. Atleast that is the way it is down here. Spritual and religious pursuits begin to lead us to a deeper understanding of the Truth. Although, that is the way it is here….Fullfillment wants to fill the void of all desires immediately and completely. That is what it’s nature is. And Desire is designed to be fullfilled immediately and completely. Perhaps the process that is in place here is really a process of elimination. Elimination of Bread of Shame. And, although the way to “do it” seems to be through the act of resistance or restriction……..Perhaps, All we really have to do is check our assumptions.

What is faith? I am watching with concern at the chasm that is widening between those who believe in God and have faith in some kind of ultimate deliverance and those who don’t. With anything like this that has two opposing poles there is a vast middle ground. This ground is made up of those of us who perhaps have a little faith and hope that the an afterlife is possible and those who have decided that they just don’t know and have given up thinking about it. What is Faith? The best defenition I have heard is that it is “The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” We all have faith. I see faith as a faculty not a decision. When you get in a car you have faith that certain things will work. When you hand your money over to the guy selling you the car you have faith that he will hand you the key. But God and all the stuff associated with God has become a very contentious subject. There are a myriad of reasons for this. But the battle has been going on for most of human history, heated up at the beggining of the Renesaince and is getting really hot now as science makes its big play against religion and God. No one else can give you faith or develop your faith. Only you can do that.