World Views

St. Paul’s School

December 2017

“Human History is the story of people seeking answers to questions that only beings aware of their own existence could ask.

These questions relate to

the meaning of life,

the inevitability of death,

the rules governing society,

the nature of reality

and so on.”

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Jim Jeffel (Understanding Basic Beliefs)

Peeling the layers of belief to arrive to some … BASIC BELIEF/ World View

Why should we concern ourselves with World Views???

• World Views play the MOST important role in our lives
• World Views assign meaning/or lack of meaning to our experiences
• World Views provide a framework for important decisions we need to make
• The Kind of life we live is tied to our foundational Belief System/World View

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Constructing a World View is a lifelong Process

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• Upbringing
• Families
• Religious convictions
• Media
• Education
• Cultural Effects

Main Constituents of our Basic Beliefs/World View?

Main Constituents of our Basic Beliefs/World View?

• Reality
• Human Nature
• Values
• Truth

Reality

• What Exits?
• Does God exist?
• What is the nature of the Universe?

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Human Nature

• Who am I?
• What does it mean to be a human being
• Is there a spiritual aspect to our reality?
• What is the purpose of life?
• Is there a direction for Human History?

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Values

• Are there any standards for what is called “good” or “bad”?
• Are values an individual choice?
• What is “moral responsibility” (if there is anything so called)?

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Truth

• This involves our beliefs about the nature and limitations of knowledge
• What is it that CAN BE KNOWN?
• What is the difference between RATIONALITY & IRRATIONALITY?

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Philosophical Questions/Social Sciences

First: Naturalism/ Materialism/�Materialistic Naturalism

Dominant since the Enlightenment (the18th Century)

Newtonian Physics

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Everything can be explained by material objects ONLY And guided by natural law�ONLY

BUT

MAN

Within Naturalistic/Materialistic Worldview

�‘If God didn’t exist, everything would be possible’

Second: �Pantheism/Mysticism�(reality that cannot be understood by reason)

The Religious World View of the East

The Westernized Version is that of New Age Mysticism

Hinduism

• Devotion to three hundred million nature deities (gods)
• Just an attempt to explain the unexplainable … to make Hinduism accessible to the masses …

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• “The particular name and form of any deities are limitations which we, in our weakness, impose on the all pervading spirit which is nameless and formless.
• The supreme being is a person only in relation to ourselves and our needs … ” (A Hindu Scholar)

Human Nature

• Man is impersonal,
• Man is an indefinable spirit like reality
• No distinction between individuals and ultimate reality = All THINGS ARE ONE

The Purpose of Life

• The Goal of life in Hinduism and Buddhism is TO ACHIEVE EXPERIMENTAL UNITY WITH THE ONE, UNIVERSAL SPIRIT
• This could be achieved in a variety of means …
• The one most familiar to the West is MEDITATION

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Truth

• “Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman, the limitless One – limitless to the east, limitless to the north, limitless in every direction. Incomprehensible is that supreme Soul unlimited, unborn, not to be reasoned about, unthinkable – He whose soul is space”
• (The Upanishads)

One of the features of Pantheistic view of Truth is its TOLERANCE OF OPPOSING RELIGIONS/PHILOSOPHIES

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• “I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.
• We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true.
• As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God”
• (Hindu Scholar Vivekenanda stated at the International Congress on World Religions)

Similarities & Differences

Materialism (West)

• Our awareness of spiritual reality is referred to as (illusion)
• Illusion is grounded in ignorance
• But
• One day when we gain sufficient knowledge of neurophysiology & environmental determiners, the belief in non natural aspects of personhood will vanish

Pantheism (East)

• Material reality is perceived as (maya/illusion)

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• Illusion is grounded in ignorance
• But
• This will be overcome when we experience ONENESS with the Universal Spirit and recognize Material as Illusionary

Similarities & Differences

Materialism (West)

• Human existence serves no ultimate purpose
• BUT
• Reason is based on objective distinction between True and False based on Rational Thought (law of non-contradiction)
• State of non-existence = Death

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Pantheism (East)

• Human existence serves no ultimate purpose
• BUT
• This distinction is NOT there = Brahman, the One, absolute Spirit is beyond rational understanding since Ultimate reality is impersonal, non rational and unknowable
• State of non-existence = Nirvana

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Third: Theism/Monotheism

The Belief in One God

Third: Theism�Monotheism�(One God)�

Beliefs Shared by Religions based on the Old Testament :

Judaism

Christianity

&

Islam

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Reality = Metaphysical Dualism

Yet God is Neither Bound Nor Limited to the Universe

Human History

• Linear = beginning … meaningful sequence of events … culminate in state of resolution (Bible: Kingdom of God)
• Human history IS NOT RANDOM
• Human History = God’s Plan to restore just and loving rule over the Earth
• There is an objective purpose to the ebb and flow of Human Civilization

TRUTH

Biblical Christian World View

• Specific Knowledge of God is available in God’s Self-disclosure in the Scripture … in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and in the Church