Some people see it as some guiding philosophy or ideology
they have toward their whole life. A dictionary describes it as
“collection of attitudes, values, stories and expectations about the
world around us, which inform our every thought and action. It is
expressed in ethics, religion, philosophy, scientific beliefs and so
on. It is how a culture works out in individual practice.”
Nowadays when many people, especially the youth, are
practically just drifting according to the varying conditions in the
world, with hardly any consistency in their actuations, or sense of
direction and purpose, developing a worldview has become an urgent
need. Many do not have a long-term and unified vision about their
life, caught and confused as they are in their fragmented
understanding of things in general.
A worldview should give us a good and guiding
understanding of who we really are, where we came from and where we
are supposed to go in our life. It is supposed to show us how we can
coordinate and integrate the many aspects of our life. It should give
us a clear idea of what ought to be considered of absolute value in
life and what only have a relative value.
In other words, when one has a worldview, he can act with
clarity of purpose. He can act with great confidence. He would know
what to do in any situation, condition or circumstance of his life. He
can connect everything into one whole meaningful pursuit in his life.
When one has a worldview, the different aspects and
dimensions of his life—the material and spiritual, the temporal and
eternal, the short-term and the long-term, etc.—are properly
coordinated and integrated. He avoids what St. Paul once said as being
like infants, “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of
people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4,14)
We should encourage everyone to develop a clear worldview.
Especially these days, when there can be so many confusing elements
that are all so irresistibly attractive, this need to develop a
worldview should be given top priority.
And where and how should we base and develop this
worldview? There are actually many sources and methods for this. There
are many philosophies, ideologies and spiritualities around. Some have
already been historically tested and are found to be helpful, at least
in some areas.
But we have to realize that our Christian faith, if lived
integrally, can already give us a very good worldview. Of course,
living our Christian faith integrally would be a never-ending affair.
And aside from doing all sorts of things to understand and
assimilate it better, our Christian faith would always require us to
ask for God’s grace. And it will also involve a lot of mysteries for
which we should be ready to be trusting in God’s providence as well as
being game and sport in the twists and turns of our life. Yes, a lot
of sacrifices would be involved.
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