One of the most beautiful concepts in math is the idea of axioms.
Axioms are statements you accept without proof. You don’t question them. You don’t derive them. You just start there and build everything else on top.
The more I think about it, the more I realize life works the same way.
When we’re young, we’re handed “truths”: Fire is hot. Hard work pays off (wishful thinking…). This is how the world works.
We don’t analyze them. We accept them. They become the foundation of how we think and act. Only later do we examine them, refine them, sometimes even replace them. But by then, they’ve already shaped us.
Programming feels similar. When you start coding, you’re told: “This is a function.” “This is an array.” “This library handles that.” You don’t know what’s happening in memory, how the CPU processes instructions, or how the network actually moves data. You trust the abstraction. You build with it.
Later, if you’re curious, you look under the hood. You learn how it really works. But you couldn’t have started there. You needed something solid to stand on first.
You can’t question everything at once. If you did, you’d never move.
At some point, you have to accept a few things as given, otherwise you never start.
The mature mind doesn’t eliminate axioms. It’s about becoming aware of the ones you’re standing on.