Weltanschauung

The above word means worldviews in German. All human beings, whether they are aware of it or not, operate their lives from worldviews. Worldviews are generally absorbed unconsciously from the culture we live in. But when cultures stagnate there is no evolution of the worldview. It remains what it was for centuries, not moving with the times. Adopting a proper worldview is critical since everything in our lives is seen through the lens of this worldview. We have three options. One is to choose our personal worldviews from the ones available, not necessarily the one we were born into. The second option is to take the best from each of these worldviews and tailor-make one for ourselves. The third option is to create a new worldview that aligns with the times we live in. Let us examine a few worldviews.

Living life in accordance with the worldview of the scriptures is probably the oldest. The worldview developed in the scriptures was based on ancient cultures when life was generally harsh, life spans were low, diseases rampant, and poverty overwhelming. Belief in supernatural forces was pervasive. Those who wrote the scriptures could not have helped being affected by the culture and conditions they were living in. This worldview prescribed minute-to-minute instructions on what a man’s duty should be. Life was led by the Book. It was a bureaucratic way of life. No deviation was allowed from the rules prescribed. There were advantages to such a lifestyle. Everything was predictable in such a society. Life was mechanical but secure. Time was filled with rituals, practices, and festivals that ensured that the mind was kept busy. Within the group, there was deep bonding. But there was no freedom to innovate. Everything was rigidly set. This worldview turned out some scholarly ultraorthodox ritualistic people. The role model was the priest.

Life as suffering is probably the second oldest worldview. Under this worldview, we need to end suffering caused by negative states like greed, envy, fear, etc. The lifestyle then had to be modified accordingly to accommodate this worldview. The story of one's life was shaped by this worldview. Ending suffering became the central plot of the story around which everything else revolved. Long hours were spent in meditative practices. In this worldview, we had to obtain release with our own efforts and not depend on a savior. This worldview turned out very compassionate beings who devoted their lives to alleviating the psychological suffering of others. The role model was the meditating monk.

Life as redemption from sin came next as a worldview. This worldview saw all human beings as born sinners who needed to be redeemed by a savior. This meant that life had to be spent in prayer, penance, asking for forgiveness, and performing acts of charity. Redemption came with surrender to the savior. This worldview turned out god-fearing and charitable people. The role model was the praying saint.

Life as a conquest has existed as a worldview mostly for kings and rulers. This was the world of the macho man. This worldview required maintaining a huge army and engaging in constant war. It required the existence of an enemy who could be killed without remorse. The role model was the conqueror. In today’s world, this worldview still exists but has taken a different form. It is no longer the grabbing of land. It is now the conquest of market share, acquisition of businesses, engaging in war with the competitor, and winning in negotiations. We also have culture wars and propaganda wars. This worldview turned out some ruthless individuals for whom conquest meant all and at any cost.

Life as service is a worldview that emerged along with the major religions. Some elevated souls realized that life is not solely about oneself. It is also about others. It was a lofty idea but it never caught on with the masses. Most human lives revolve around themselves and their families. Even when we serve others it is largely to assuage our subconscious guilt or out of pity. It is mostly a sporadic act, not a way of being. Nevertheless, it did turn out some extraordinary individuals who lived for the welfare of others. The role model was Mother Theresa and the Good Samaritan.

Life as a business is today’s dominant worldview. The economic man has arrived. The language of this worldview is top line, bottom line, mergers and acquisitions, market share, and business plans. This worldview requires working long hours and ensuring that the bank balance keeps increasing. It also requires innovation, creativity, and manipulation. The role model is the businessman. This worldview has turned out the global manager.

Life as fun and pleasure is another modern worldview. This has mostly been driven by technology. Under this worldview, life is all about chasing pleasant feelings. The entertainment industry is one of the largest and the entertainers are the richest. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy. The role models are sportsmen, film and rock stars. Are you having fun? is the language of this worldview. The media’s obsession with sensationalism is a reflection of this worldview. Business has capitalized on this worldview by selling the idea that by consuming more you will be happier and feel better. This worldview has turned out millions of pleasure seekers and compulsive shoppers.

Finally, there is the scientific worldview. The scientific, evidence-based inquiry has produced some of the greatest minds and has made astounding discoveries that have enhanced the quality of life. Due to its insistence on proof it discards faith and is therefore at loggerheads with the religious worldview. Scientists have a predominantly materialistic worldview and hope to explain all of life as the movement of matter. Scientists will not allow the mysterious to remain mysterious. Science has solved many of humanity’s problems but has also created new ones. Science has given man more power than he can handle.

Each worldview comes packaged with its own vocabulary and terminology. Everyone thinks that his worldview is the best. When worldviews clash wars are fought, millions of lives are lost, and there is hatred all around. We are all worldviews personified. We are close only with people who share our worldview. When a person is converted from one worldview to another there is animosity between the two groups. Worldviews are powerful and have us in its grip. There are many of them fighting with each other for thousands of years and may continue to do so for long. Within the same worldview, there are divisions and clashes. For peace to prevail the whole of humanity needs one common worldview, at least with respect to other people.

Coming to the present times we have to ask ourselves which worldview will serve us best. The times we live in have no parallel in history. Change is happening too fast to develop a proper perspective. Worldviews are now being shaped by technology. We are living in a world where, if someone closes shop in Antarctica, jobs are lost in Malaysia. The Butterfly effect is not imaginary, it has become real. The rise or fall of the American Dollar can bring both joy and misery to millions. The collapse of one major country could very well bring every other country down. A nuclear disaster in one country can affect many countries. The extent of our interdependence has not penetrated our consciousness. We still live in our little Diasporas. We talk of globalization but never use the word interdependence. The new worldview has to factor in this interdependence. What does this mean? It means we meditate not for personal salvation but for the salvation of this world itself. We redeem not just personal sin. We pray not just for ourselves. There is going to be no ‘me’ very soon. It has to be ‘us’. Nobody can be self-sufficient anymore. Gandhi talked of a self-sufficient village. We have to now think of a self-sufficient world. Individualism and nationalism which have taken hold of our lives may have to be given up in the new world that is unfolding. The new worldview would require a lot of letting go and giving up.

Worldviews have to take into account the present-day challenges of mankind. Personal salvation, redemption from sin, conquests, and bottom lines are no longer the need of the hour. Saving the planet is. Global warming is. Nationalism, individualism, and fanaticism are the pressing challenges of the day. We can no longer afford to have individualistic worldviews centered on our personal happiness. With globalization and mutual interdependence, the new worldview has to be truly global. It has to be a patriotism of the planet, not that of just one country. We must pray for the economic success of countries that we have not heard of, in order to preserve our jobs and business. It has to be collective salvation, not just of oneself. The new sinners will be those who are thinking only about themselves. The world that so long was centered on ‘ me’ has to shift to ‘us’. We have to make a quantum leap from our egoistic shell into an interdependent universe that we have so far been led to believe is there for us to consume. Living according to the scriptures is no longer going to be enough. The present times demand something more of us than just rituals, prayer, and service. It requires a new culture where people relate to each other realising their mutual interdependency. It requires a mindset that does not consume everything, leaving nothing for others. We have to rethink the meaning of ‘others’. We are talking of a worldview where we carry the world in our heads and not just our family because our family’s survival is going to depend not on the rains but on what is happening to the economy of Greece. We may soon have to propitiate the Greek gods. It requires a new worldview the like of which we have never had before. Ultimately it looks as though business and commercial interests are going to bring about the unity of the world and not conquests or language or religion or science or culture. When every country invests in every other country everyone’s self-interest is intertwined with the other. We will love our neighbor as ourselves when we do business with him.

All this may sound utopian. When will such a new worldview come about? Who is going to bell the cat? Will this happen only when life pushes us to the brink and our very survival is at stake? But the fact is that a new worldview is taking shape. There are plenty of voices that are discarding the old worldviews. New leaders are emerging on the scene to transform human consciousness leaving their old vocations behind. New vocabularies are being created. There are positive signs all around. The shaping of the new consciousness requires embracing life as a conscious evolutionary process. It begins with a personal worldview and then moves on to realizing that life is part of a larger evolutionary process that involves everyone.

The personal worldview

For most of us, life means ‘my’ life. It is all that happens to us. The happy moments, the unhappy moments, the pains and the pleasures experienced, the successes and failures, the ups and downs. Life then is the story of our lives. It is a narrative strung together over time. We look back and call all of this ‘life’. In this narrative, other people may come and go, but they are secondary. It is primarily about us. We are quite obsessed with this narrative. We want to make it pleasurable, interesting, meaningful, and purposeful. We want to say that we had a good life. This narrative has a tight grip over us. We are its scriptwriter, actor, director, producer, and its most important viewer. We see this movie again and again never tiring of it. We don’t like people picking holes in the narrative. We feel unhappy when the narrative does not go according to our wishes. Our entire life is spent trying to get this narrative right. It keeps going off course again and again. We have to bring it on course any number of times. We benchmark our narratives against the narratives of other lives. Our lives are always in comparison. We want to keep up with the narrative of the Joneses. This is what we normally call life. It is based on the worldview that life is all about us. We are here for us. It is a self-centered view of life, centered on oneself, as though we are the center of the universe. The time has come to step out of this worldview and move on to the next level.

The collective worldview

In this perspective, we view life as an inherently good process with meaning and purpose though we don’t know what it is. Life is evolving all the time towards higher ends with no end in sight. There is no fixed destination to be reached. Ten billion years ago no one could have thought that life would end up the way it has now. It is definitely a far better universe than it was at the time of the Big Bang when life existed only in potential. When life became conscious of itself the process of evolution accelerated. But we have no idea where it is all heading. When we come from this worldview, then life is not just about us. We become part of a larger plan that needs us to execute its agenda. In participating in this plan we may have to give up some of the agendas of the personal plan. This plan is again only about us but not as a personal narrative. It is like being part of a large organization whose goals we have accepted as our goals. This requires an expansion of our consciousness so that we can embrace others. The concept of ‘stranger’ has to be phased out. In the times to come it appears that our lives are going to depend on such an evolution. Life is then still about us but the meaning of ‘us’ has been enlarged. It includes people whom we have never met and may never meet. Their well-being and success are as important to us as our own since we have become interdependent on each other. In a way, they are family too. This means going beyond the tribal, religious, community, village, state, country, and professional identities that have dominated our consciousness for millennia.

Human beings create worldviews. It is not god given. Once in a while, a great man comes into this world and gifts it with a worldview. Normally it is given to small groups and then slowly spreads by the efforts of committed disciples. But this took centuries in the past. If globalization happened gradually we could have grown into the new worldview slowly. But now we are forced to accelerate the process by using technology to reach millions within a shorter timeframe. Worldviews need new terminology and language. It can no longer be couched in religious language. Religions did talk of interdependence but it was never taken seriously. The time has come to take it seriously. Expanding our consciousness from its present small size to global proportions requires being part of a group that propagates such an expansion. New worldviews are created in communities where there is constant reinforcement. Once a critical mass is reached the new awareness spans out rapidly.