יְסוֹד הַיְסוֹדוֹת וְעַמּוּד הַחָכְמוֹת לֵידַע שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם מָצוּי רִאשׁוֹן. וְהוּא מַמְצִיא כָּל נִמְצָא. וְכָל הַנִּמְצָאִים מִשָּׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ וּמַה שֶּׁבֵּינֵיהֶם לֹא נִמְצְאוּ אֶלָּא מֵאֲמִתַּת הִמָּצְאוֹ:



"The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of His being."

Rambam states that Faith is a commandment. He identifies the first dibrah (אנכי ה’) as a commandment. These sentences in Sefer Hamitzvot and Yesodei Hatorah identify particular cognitive content that one is obligated to maintain, namely conviction that there exists a first cause, a Creator. Rambam introduces the notion that human behavior ought to be determined by the intellect, and that human practice should emerge directly from a set of things known to be true. That is, Rambam understands that practice follows from belief, but he sees the term אמונה as relating to cognitive conviction - knowing that God exists.. In particular, he sees human practices stemming from universal truths that can be known by the intellect, which are true for all people and all places.