Worldview Essay 2.4: 

 

Forgive my boldness; I would like to share something you probably know, the term: Worldview. 
This is a set of beliefs you and I live by. These ‘guides’ to life or ways of living are taught and learned through various means. Much of today’s dominating global -view has trickled down from the mountainside of the great intellectuals of the past 400 years in Western society.
A small group of thinkers like Darwin, Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Freud, Marx, Sartre, Kafka, Camus, Jung, Hesse, Koestler, Huxley and  a few more have established the newer intellectual landscape for some centuries.

You may not have heard of all of them, but they certainly fuel some of your beliefs.

I have read a few of their famous books, devouring the publications eagerly and was deeply impacted by them. Some were great thinkers who liberated my mind and our contemporary society. They were unrivalled men whose contribution to Western thought is priceless. Some of their books caused me to stay up for hours overnight to complete reading those works of compelling genius.

 I studied deeply their ‘messages to the world’ in High School. I learned that these thinkers were skillful with words, causing 100s of 1000s like me to accept their cognitive engineering of contemporary Western society’s social and evolutionary progress.

There were key themes in books that we studied in High school. For example, the individual vs the society: Huxley’s vision of the near- future where people were divided into 3-4 classes and how a particular drug was given to ‘lower’ masses to stop them from knowing that they were living in an elitist governed Utopia and kept ‘happily’ unaware.  ( Brave New World )

My generation, the Baby Boomers, wanted to change the world! We did precisely that. For good or ill? You decide? As I aged, I grew up in a way that reflected what I had read for about the first three decades of early life. Yes! Ideas, you shall find, can have real-world consequences.

 Yet as I grew older, I began seeing some flaws with the loss of critical thinking and the indoctrination of the modern Western civilisation  in latter decades.

 I’ve read some contemporary philosophers and particularly, general technology books, which opened my mind to search, review and understand carefully.

It wasn’t the wisdom of another more extraordinary thinker that brought down the intellectual Everest for me. The then overall meaninglessness of my life, the emptiness and the void in my heart, tolled the death- bell of this long-cherished Worldview. 

Later on, I concluded that their writing was intelligently crafted, deceptively skillful fiction.  We could term this collective body of work as misleading, delusionally conceived and destructive information. The over-arching strategy of their books is an attempt to explain away God. To deny Him a place in our world and present Him as an ancient mythic- being. An improbable Wizard in the sky.

 It was my original acceptance of their spellbinding system of beliefs (the atheistic worldview) that brought me to that cave of despair and darkness in the first place. They taught that God is dead!

And that a person’s value is not inherent and that individuals must earn their way in life while valuing and obeying the Government elites above their own freedom. If this seems like a return to ancient Rome’s ideals, it is. Women and girls have been seduced by the darkness in idealising their roles as ‘empowered’ females in an age where unattached sex is easier to obtain than a pizza. Where the tragedy of 'Bonnie Blue' polarises Mums and Dads of yesteryear disapproving attitude and more than the likes of current social media platforms.

These achingly poor realised attitudes  are the deeper echoes of the 50s, 60s and 70s political, social, cultural, sexual and economic ‘revolution.’ The catch-cry’s then morph into the hook-ups of today with old slogans of...

‘If you want to, then do it, don't stop!’Nice single girls can too! ‘If It doesn’t hurt anyone, go ahead, do it!’ ‘That  We, not God, are the measure of everything.’  Anyway, God left us all alone, and He departed after creation.’ True? Or not? 'Pessimism seems true.'
It seemed to the following generations, that existence is meaninglessness; Face that kind of life with courage. Courage is meaningless. The gladiators motto or existentialists tagline became,' eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow we die!'

But ...

Look up at the night sky and see the white points of trillions of galaxies in overwhelming blackness. Is the universe impersonal or is it the intentional craftsmanship of an intelligent Designer?
 

Ask yourself, when you are faced with a likely moral decision, do I invest this moment (e.g.,meeting girls by serendipity) in my life for short- term benefits or for long-term gains?
We ask ourselves how do we make sense of all the particulars we encounter in our lives? From Adam to Zoology, from a baby's cry to a Ferrari, from ideas to transcendence, from the cell to a prisoner. All is  phenomena in the world of our space and time. All things, we can see or sense, yet there are things that we cannot see, yet we know that they are true and real. We have asked, how does this all fit together? The question wrestled throughout human history. 

Who do we trust? Mortal man or immortal  God?

Because, like 100s of millions of others, we choose to trust some of those trickled down ideas from a few mortals who—I believe-- undermined the foundation of our Western society to fracture the granite-like base of our collective lives. Their ideas sound good until you see the downstream consequences. Compare Putin's Russia with Singapore ? Hong Kong under Britain vs Chinese Protectorate? China vs USA. Iran vs Israel.

Who is truly free and who has freedom chained?

The after -effects of some trickled down thoughts are found in the rise of relativistic ideals, radical gender theories, neo-atheism, neo-racism and the emergence of communism -Lite, political correctness and reality ensembles. One example is the popularity of reality TV. These people are rarely endowed with awarded talents, fine acting skills or other merits except that they are famous. For instance, the Kardashians' fame lies primarily in persistent self-promotion and clever marketing. Mega-numbers crave such celebrity, power, wealth and prestige. ‘Appearance is everything,’ a  myriad of voices cry out. Cosmetic surgeons do whole-body makeovers to chase the elusive ‘fountain of youth.’

Today, celebrities, whether athletes, rock bands, movie stars, billionaires, models... etc., project our inner desires. Our lives in the digital age reflect the core value of belonging: where do we fit in? We are composites of the persons we want to emulate.  We mirror other mirrors, other like-minded people; it is one reason for the massive popularity of social media.( Four Billion + members) Becoming more like what we desire. Is this good or ill? We consume and assume worth by buying acceptance and belonging to particular people- groups. From our data, the algorithmic marketing pitch, honed and shaped by our offline and online lives over the past decades, precisely targets our human need for worth. Despite our fiercely guarded independence, we comply, longing to belong.

 I know you believe we are all made free. I was duped, but now I see. I am free from near- global deception. More than a game changer, it is a Life- Transference! Transferred from the domain of man to the kingdom of God.

I am overwhelmed by gratitude. Who or what liberated me? All that happened was that somebody took me out of a deep cave into pure, radiant light. This new reality, which I have begun to live in, makes me want to rescue others trapped in the deep cave and release them. This is a gift I am unworthy to receive, yet I did! Originally a prisoner now rescued from falsehood,fiction,myth and delusion. 

Why should I be fortunate to experience this true enlightenment, this change of perspective, heart and mind?  Has Love found a way?

Transformed by new concepts and persons whose selflessness, devoted actions and committed friendships shared their light. There is abundant love, genuine acceptance, and a meaningful and purposeful life to be found.  Experiencing new and renewed relationships in the illumined world that reaches beyond barriers and toward healthier living with the fundamental dynamic Love from the ‘Book of Ages’: The Bible.

(Thank you for reading this letter.)

Recommended sources for further research:

Renewing Your Mind by R.C. Sproul.
Consequences of Ideas by R.C.Sproul.
Streams of Confusion by Brad Scott.
1984 by George Orwell.

The Intellectuals by Paul Johnson
Dekonstructing the Kardashians by M J Corey

and others
Academy of Ideas: YouTube Channel.

What do you think? drop a comment? Your nuggets, your thoughts are welcome? Drop by again.

Final Comment:

It came to my attention that I didn't name other contemporary thinkers. While its not an omission of agreement but of space and historical relevance, its still mine. Tonight I embark on reading a tome by Dostoevsky of whom Camus and Einstein said,that he is the real brilliant 19th century.Prophet, not Marx.

      

 By Digital Anvil.