Worldview Essay

Victoria Typpi

CWV-101

December 14, 2014

Brett Berger

My Worldview

        Throughout the course of this class we have learned what a worldview is and we were told to think about our own worldview and how it shapes us. According to Tackett, “A worldview is the framework from which we view reality and make sense of life and the world.” Everyone’s worldview is different, because no one has the same view on religion, on our purpose in life, as well as beliefs and values as everyone else. Whether it is subconscious or conscious, every person has some type of worldview; a person’s worldview is a combination of all that a person believes to be true, what a person believes is the driving force behind every emotion, decision and action. This class as helped to shape my views of life and my beliefs in general by giving me a new look on everything. At the beginning of the semester we were asked to answer seven questions regarding God, what a human is, the nature of the universe, how we know what we know, right and wrong, purpose of life, and our core commitments. I have thought about these questions during this semester and have reflected on them during our discussions in class.

        The first question dealt with God and his characteristics. I do not believe that there is a God, I think that he is a fictional character that some people believe in to give purpose to their life. When I think of God, I imagine him as a non-binary figure who has no real gender and no physical characteristics, God is just there. To me it seems unrealistic for one person to have created everything in the world and to have Him determine everyone’s destiny. Next is what a human being is and what happens when we die. Humans are a living life form that has conscious thought and the ability to empathize and have morals. Even though I don’t believe in God, I still believe there is an afterlife that our souls go to after we die. I believe that the nature of the universe to have been created by the “big-bang” and not by God. Somewhere in the universe is the place where souls go when they are released from their physically body but they might not technically be Heaven and Hell. My views on these is very agnostic. While I do not believe that there is a God, I am not against the idea that there are divine beings watching over us and I do believe in an afterlife.

        One of the other questions that I had to answer and think about had to do with how we know what we know and how we know it to be true. For me, I know all that I do from stories and lessons passed down from my parents/grandparents/etc. You learn what is acceptable from the rules set by your parents and they got those rules from their parents and so on and so forth. People also know what they know to be true by scientific facts, things that have been proven to be true, and also by their undeniable faith to believe what they know to actually be true. The same can kind of go along with how we know what is right and wrong and how we can know there is a right or wrong. You learn by the rules put down by your parents, schools and society to what is right and wrong and by laws put in place by the government. Determining the difference between what is right and wrong depends on what is socially accepted in your culture and your own moral beliefs of what is right or wrong. Without having a right and wrong the world would be in chaos and disarray and there would be no order to the world, so there has to be right and wrong.