A life of slavery to assumptions can dull a person's response when they bump into reason because of their own thoughts or because of conversation with someone else. Assumptions can feed a desire for familiarity, comfort, and social acceptance that in turn drives a wedge between their adherent and truth--but this is not some inevitable fate. No one is beyond intellectual redemption, even if someone has lived for decades in philosophical apathy or even hostility towards true rationalism.
Anything can serve as a starting point to a person's unflinching rejection of assumptions, as any issue can be the thing that alerts someone to the fact that all assumptions are epistemologically invalid, which can lead to a thorough analysis of a person's ideological framework. There is no single subject or psychological event that must be responsible for a person embracing rationalism. Rather, everyone who genuinely embraces rationalism will arrive at several fundamental truths, no matter what variables motivated them to abandon assumptions in the first place.
Every thought and experience is an opportunity for those who have not systematically evaluated their worldviews or thoroughly reflected on the nature of reality to align with reason. The opportunities are plentiful, yet acknowledgment of reason--not of social norms, psychological traits, or scientific laws, but reason itself--is a rare thing. The many people who live without ever contemplating anything beyond matters of immediate practicality or emotional concern will remain unaware of the true nature of reason until they seek it.
In spite of the improbability of many people actually coming to rationalism on their own unless some personal trial forces them to reconsider their priorities, there is basis for hope that they will change, albeit not for expecting them to change. Even this knowledge, however, can make it easier for a rationalist to endure the presence of non-rationalists. No matter how irrational, inconsistent, or apathetic someone has been, there is always the possibility that he or she can turn away from darkness and assumptions to reason.
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