Worldview Essay

Shelby Shotts
CWV 101
3-26-12
Todd Forest

My Personal Worldview
When a person is trying to decide on how their worldview affects their life, one must first decide on which components comprise their worldview and why. The three components that make up my worldview are knowledge, human nature, and ethics, because they shaped my thoughts, experiences, education, and life decisions. I feel it is important to understand why these components have such lasting effects on my life and worldview.
When we look at knowledge, we are able to see that it is much more than just being taught, rather it is the wisdom to know to learn. Onlinedictionary.com defines wisdom as, knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to actions, sagacity, discernment, or insight. Insight is developed from experiences, and these experiences allow us to give just judgment. Without knowledge or experience judgment would just be ignorant. I feel as though as people, we must expose ourselves to different lands, cultures, and people in order to be better-rounded and gain insight. Knowledge has been the cornerstone to my decision-making and has allowed me to make better, more educated decisions about my worldview, and those of others. In order to understand why people make the decisions they do, we must also have knowledge of human nature.
Human nature is, but not limited to, instinctive actions and behaviors. The big question is why we do what we do when we do it. Is everything innate in us, or has it been taught? Knowledge helps us to know when we are acting on instinct, and when we are exercising taught behaviors. Cosgrove asks, “Are we fallen beings with sin natures? Or are we ascending sociological gene carriers…” My question is, why can we not be both? In Christianity, it is believed that we are born with natural sin, yet we are able to overcome this by making the proper decisions on how to live and behave. Different elements can also have an effect on our natures. I believe that outside influences, such as one’s environment can definitely have an effect on our beliefs and behaviors. When I was younger and attending Catholic school, it was apparent that in school people behaved one way, and then at home another. This is still true for adults. When we are around fellow believers of our faith it is easy to conduct ourselves in that manner, but once removed from this situation and placed in another, it easy for some to fall off track. It is our nature to want, and to get, but we must use our knowledge of right and wrong to make sure we are doing so in manner cohesive with our belief system that does not hurt or cheat others from getting what they want. Now defining what is right and wrong would depend on the ethical beliefs of one’s culture or religion, and that would surely have an effect on the nature of those humans.
Ethics is a tricky subject because of the differing beliefs that so many hold. Ethical right and wrongs are based on one’s personal beliefs as well as cultural upbringings; however, there are common threads of how we all choose to treat each other, beliefs aside. It is interesting to see the influence of the Ten Commandments outside of Christianity. Not every human being has good intentions, but most do, and want to treat others as they want to be treated. This is apparent, because we are not all in jail for assault and murder. I feel as though the Ten Commandments have influenced our society’s development of a system of right and wrong. For instance, murder, adultery, and theft are all against the law, and can land one in a lot of trouble. People have been disciplined based on Christian rules for a very long time as it has not been very long since church was separated from government and schools. Whether naturalist, atheists, and secular humanists want to admit it or not, it is true. Some people may not want to give glory to God, but if they want to stay out of jail, then they will abide by His laws. They may not want to believe in Him, yet are living indirectly following His teachings. If everyone was open to knowledge, then they might be open to recognizing all of this. Different societies and beliefs systems have different standards and my hope is that someday we can be open to understanding our likenesses as well as differences, and find a peaceful balance of them all.
I believe in balance. Balance is calming and soothing. My purpose in life is to find a harmonious balance of my personal beliefs with those of societies and the worlds, so as to live a calm and worry-free life. My worldview would be one of acceptance, curiosity, and understanding. This is why knowledge is so important to me. In acceptance of the importance of knowledge, human nature, and ethics as the foundation of my moral structure and worldview, I feel that I am on my way to finding my purpose.

a) I would say that my personal worldview is the Christian worldview and is comparable is a small way with that of Eastern Pantheism. We both believe in something more than death, and spiritual divineness. I feel as though we have the most in common ethically as well. Pantheists believe in cause and effect, and I think this is parallel to Christian rules and consequences.
b) Faith contributes immensely to my worldview. At first, I did not see it, but in gaining more insight as I was gaining knowledge, I was able to see all the facets where faith was playing a major role in my actions and behavior. Almost everything I do has something to do with the rights and wrongs of Christianity.
c) My views have not changed much, except for the fact that I now see myself differently. Now that I am accepting of the fact that faith does contribute to my worldview through my foundations of ethics, and acceptable human natures.
d) I did encounter some challenges with this assignment as I was completely stumped by it. It was hard for me to organize my thoughts of the subject and get them onto paper in a cohesive manner, but thanks to you, professor, I was able to overcome my problems and finish my assignment. Better late than never? Thank you for all your help!!!

References
Wisdom, retrieved March 26, 2012 from http//:www.dictionary.reference.com/browser/wisdom?db=dictionary Foundations of Christian Thought, Cosgrove
-I cannot log into my ebook for some reason to properly cite this reference, my apologies.

References: Wisdom, retrieved March 26, 2012 from http//:www.dictionary.reference.com/browser/wisdom?db=dictionary Foundations of Christian Thought, Cosgrove -I cannot log into my ebook for some reason to properly cite this reference, my apologies.