The Importance and Influence of one’s worldview

The Importance and Influence of one’s worldview

Well before I describe the importance of a worldview, I would like to define the term ‘worldview’, or as some might say ‘zeitgeist’. A worldview is “A collection of intellectual, emotional, or spiritual grids, or paradigms, that have developed through conscious and unconscious acceptance or rejection of concepts or beliefs, and that form a filter system through which the separate data of reality are processed and organized by the individuals that share this particular ‘way of seeing.’” So by this definition we can understand that everyone has a worldview, whether or not they know that they have a worldview or even want if they want one. A worldview is made of assumptions that can only be changed by faith. Worldview assumptions are rarely acknowledged openly, questioned or challenged by people who hold them. No worldview is totally open-minded but all worldviews involve narrowing of the mind and every worldview has strict and inflexible rules or absolutes that must never be broken. Everyone has a worldview and often the worldview is shared by some and not by others. So to understand the importance of worldviews we need to understand that, one worldview is of no more value than another. However to suggest that every worldview is right would be Idealistic and naïve because in context to peoples surrounds they could be right, but that doesn’t make their views correct. Now that we can understand that in context peoples views are right, we can also understand the sensitivity needed to pursue an argument about their views. I would like to reiterate that peoples worldviews can be unconscious and inbuilt, through their up bringing and culture.
So to answer the question, why are worldviews important? I would have to start by suggesting that if one didn’t have a worldview, they also wouldn’t have a moral foundation. A worldview can simply be the difference between right and wrong, so therefore it is important to have this distinction. Consequently, in this case ones worldview is important because of moral decisions but this can translate to other issues of worldviews. For example, wars are fought over worldviews, all it takes is a misunderstanding or a conflicting difference in idea and countries are at war. In that case lets see how it gets to this stage of velocity and seriousness. Firstly how do we place governments? Well people vote for parties that understand them and parties that agree with their key ideals or we might even say their main worldviews. So, you could even suggest that a worldview can influence others and that a worldview could influence the power of governments. Another way of looking at this is that the media can influence peoples worldviews and how they perceive things. In that the media can be bias and rose tinted as such. To conclude a worldview is very important and can be very influential, therefore a worldview can be manipulating and sometimes powerful, however a worldview is unavoidable. So politics are based around meeting the expectation of people’s worldviews, that’s why Hitler managed to get so much power because people agreed with his ideals. For example ‘Miss Universe’ tries her hardest to say all the right things, so that the voters agree with what she’s saying and therefore vote for her.
Now lets look at the stubbiness of worldviews, whether conscious or unconsciously, changing a worldview can be almost impossible. When a person has grown up with a particular worldview and then someone changes it without his or her permission, that person could potentially go insane. A perfect illustration of this is Plato’s ‘The Simile Of The Cave’ from ‘The Republic’. In this illustration Plato is telling someone this story to illustrate the difficulty in changing a ‘worldview’.

“Imagine an underground chamber like a cave, with a long entrance open to the daylight and as wide as the cave. In this chamber are men who have been prisoners there since they were children, their legs and necks being so fastened that they can only look straight ahead of them and cannot turn their heads. Some way off, behind and higher up, a fire is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners and above them runs a road, in front of which a certain-wall has been built, like the screen at puppet shows between the operators an their audience, above which they show their puppets.”
“I see.”
“Imagine further that there are men carrying all sorts of gear along behind the certain-wall, projecting above it and including figures of men and animals made of wood and stone and all sorts of other materials, and that some of these men, as you would expect, are talking and some not.”
“An odd picture and an odd sort of prisoner.”
“They are drawn from life,” I replied. “For, tell me, do you think our prisoners could see anything of themselves or their fellows except the shadows thrown by the fire on the wall of the cave opposite them?”
“How could they see anything else if they were prevented from moving their heads all their lives?”
“And would they see anything more of the objects carried along the road?”
“Of course not.”
“Then if they were able to talk to each other, would they not assume that the shadows they saw were the real things?”
“Inevitably.”
“And if the wall of their prison opposite them reflected sound, don’t you think that they would suppose, whenever one of the passers-by on the road spoke, that the voice belonged to the shadow passing before them?”
“They would be bound to think so.”
“And so in every way they would believe that the shadows of the objects we mentioned were the whole truth.”
“Yes, inevitably.”

What Plato is doing here is creating the perfect scenario of a worldview that we know better than. How can we show one of these prisoners, another person, without turning his or her world upside down and destroying their worldview? We can, so a good question to ask is, are all worldviews right or correct? Well, in the prisoner’s minds they are correct but we know better. Another question would be, will they accept a change like seeing the outside world? Or will the brain not accept it and think that it’s a dream? Well Plato takes it further again.

“Then think what would naturally happen to them if they were released from their bonds and cured of their delusions. Suppose one of them were let loose, and suddenly compelled to stand up and turn his head and look and walk towards the fire; all these actions would be painful and he would be too dazzled to see properly the objects of which he used to see the shadows. What do you think he would say if he was told that what he used to see was so much empty nonsense and that he was now nearer reality and seeing more correctly, because he was turned towards the objects that were more real, and if on top of that he were compelled to say what each of the passing objects was when it was pointed out to him? Don’t you think he would be at a loss, and think that what he used to see was far truer than the objects now being pointed out to him?”

So now Plato has released his prisoner and surprise, surprise, the prisoner still thinks that the old life of shadow figures is the truer of the two realities. Well if we were to relate this to our own lives, I believe we would feel the same. What if instead of waking up tomorrow morning in your bedroom on earth, you woke up on a spaceship, near a distant planet, and then when you asked the Aliens where earth is, they said “earth was a dream, we programmed it into your brain to keep you happy”, how would you feel? I can tell you now that I would have trouble dealing with that and I would probably have a stoke. Now think about this image when you think of Plato’s prisoner’s reaction.
Furthermore think about eastern countries that have a very loose death penalty, where they could hang you for stealing an orange, where you feel out of place because you’re the only one not carrying a gun. Then imagine being a citizen of that country and having pride in your homeland, think about the way you can walk down your neighbourhood and feel perfectly safe but one day a foreign army march into your village, in large tanks and matching uniforms. Later that week your brother is killed in a rally and all you know now is that your voice isn’t going to be hear in the street with all the other grieving families, so you pick up your rifle and you show them the only justice you’ve ever been taught. Whose worldview is just? Fair? Or even correct?
Are people being stubborn when they don’t want to change or are they frightened because their world is being tossed around? So what is the answer to conflicting worldviews? I believe that the term ‘worldview’ is equal to the term ‘narrowing of the mind’ I think that for a person to truly understand someone else’s worldview, they need to open their mind to possibilities that are abnormal to them and then practice the art of change.

Why i'm i starting to blog?

Well i'm starting to blog so that i can make a little difference to a big world and so that i can get a small and humble opinion to the people who matter. Which in my growing post-modern view is you!

I've grown up in a Vineyard church setting and still attend one know, but i refuse to be stubborn and unwilling to change. So to answer the question 'Why i'm i starting to blog?', i would have to say, to put across what little theological and philosophical wisdom i have. I am merely a humble and broken sinner, in a world of beautiful people.

Why i'm blogging, is to show that we as a global Church are tackling the future with a distinct lack of history and therefore all i can deduce from this, is that history in certain context is repeating itself.

On this blog sight i would like to talk about the Emerging church movements and their beauty as well as their haste to push on with change. I've looked at the Emerging and Emergent church's ideals/views and then i've compared them to the Vineyard church's 'vision and values'. Doing this i've realised that there seems to be no vital changes to the values but the activism that the Emerging churches are pushing, is something that the Vineyard is lacking. However the case maybe, spokesmen for the Emerging churches need to evoke this change but allow time for other movements to catch up because men and women have devoted their lives to these churches and they need a time to contemplate and then through this attitude, they will be able to obtain a state of change.

So there are a few things i like about the Emerging and Emergent movements, one is the active political and non-political approach, a second thing is the openness to ask questions and not giving the answer, a third this is the persistence to not be the next fad for teens or gen X.

Well now that i've told you what i would like to discuss i would also like to tell you who i am, as a person. First and foremost i am a Child of God, secondly i'm a university student, studying 'Worship Leading and Spiritual Formation' at St Stephen's University, New Brunswick, Canada. I'm part of 'The Institute Of Contemporary & Emerging Worship Studies' and i'm training directly under Dan Wilt, with two others. Dan Wilt is the co-ordinator for Vineyard worship leaders in Canada and a great song writer but that speaks nothing of his life, only after meeting him can you see his true beauty, he is a strong, courageous character who also is as gentle as a father to all.

That's me done for my first blog but don't worry, there's plenty more where this can from.....

God Bless you, Dan