Worldviews? Are we Spectators and Participants ?

 

 Worldviews?

 Are we spectators a-n-d participants? 

 

Pick up any eNewsletter, book or track any article process in any platform of social media and you will witness a collision of different worlds. Everyday that goes by there is a report of controversy, debate, violence, scandal and conflict between individuals and among nations. These range from minor arguments to catastrophic events.

human to human: 

 To be human involves bumping up against other humans who see the world very differently to us. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, nothing can protect us from that reality. When confronted with this in both subtle and direct ways. many of us can feel uncomfortable, threatened, afraid, anxious and perhaps angry.

This essay introduces the concept of how a view of one's life -journey may depend on one or more  highly influential systems of thought or way of looking at the world.

 Each system is the articulation of a world view. The term world view comes from the German word Weltanschauung. It is a word social commentators like to use. We may be unaware of it, but each of US has a world view. It is an important concept to grapple with in order to understand reality. 

 

worldview: what is It? 

A world view may be understood as a framework or set of fundamental beliefs through which we view the world and our place in it. This framework could be thought of as being like the frame of a house'--that is not seen, but is crucial to the Way our reality IS constructed and held together. It supports our beliefs, our actions and our plans and hopes for the future. It gives shape to our lives and creates the space in which we live and think,speak, act and dream. This frame is our frame. It might be the same as some, but is very different from others.

 

lens: our eyes have them and so do we. 

Our world view acts as the lens through which we view the world. We might not look at the lens, but we do look through it, and it will largely determine what we see in front of us. That lens can be very different for different people, and produce vastly divergent ways of understanding reality.

 

The nature of different and conflicting world views can present to us a vision of the world and reality that is distinct and very different to others.

 

 worldviews: how are they formed?

Significantly but relevant to one's way of thinking, one's worldview, is the how, when and who raised us. What and where one is taught is highly relevant and important too.

Childhood, Formal education, work-life and other accretions or layers of  beliefs make up our personal view or belief system through time.

 

random views or beliefs ? almost! 

 

Something as simple as a  catchy advertising slogan to a tome of a book can affect our personal frame of understanding or reference. 

It is my contention that most of what we believe is made up of un-appraised elements of the world around us. Almost unconsciously, snippets, lines of text, ,slices of pages, words,phrases,pictures, graphics,narrations, memes and lyrics that we embrace or reject can comprise our world view.

 Our worldview can change even with our moods ,location and who we are with daily.

I also believe that much of what we choose to believe is not necessarily logical,nor absorbed reason-ably.

Of course part of our world view is unchangeable and remains largely permanent. But when we encounter another worldview, we could clash with it and therefore alter  or harden our  belief system accordingly.

On the other hand,an innocuous, minor belief if embraced can transform one's thought system instantly with implications for the rest.

Our hormones, if followed, can instantly alter our long-held convictions. Such are our emotions which can assail or confirm our worldview on a day to day basis 

love: the ultimate agent of change.

Most significantly the most powerful  element of all-- Love can and does  truly affect our reasoning or logical worldview no matter how endearingly held. We hear of enemies becoming friends when the other is embraced or have joined forces to counter evil opposition.

If you've read up to here, thanks, I shall not labour with the main  points any further.

Perhaps you have digested the meat of my essay and agree on principle.

how do we determine a person's worldview, you may ask?

The answers that we give to these 4 questions  below provide an indication of the world view that we hold.

James Sire, who has spent decades thinking about how to describe world views suggests that world view may be discovered in the answers you and I give to four key questions

1|

Who am I? What is the nature and task of the human being?

 

2I

 Where am I? What is the nature of the world and universe  that we live in? Do I see the world and universe as personal, ordered and meaningful  or chaotic. cruel and random?

 

3I

 What's wrong? Why is it that my world appears to be not as it's supposed to be? How do I make sense of evil?

 

4I

 What is the solution? Where do I find hope for some peace, meaning and direction?

( Agreed: Edited,Reworked and Final Form by Digital Anvil )

Initially based on the book: Worldviews. Edited by Simon Smart.