There are a number of
people I read or admire for many reasons. I don’t always agree
with what they say and that is a good thing. I like to read things
to compare different points of view, to try and get a complete
picture of things. In the light of a new experience, I may have to
change my worldview – that mental platform that forms the
scaffolding of my temporal personality. Moreover, not agreeing with
someone doesn’t mean they are wrong. I always make up my own mind –
there is a difference in believing that 2+2=4 than knowing
that 2+2=4 and sometimes (!!) there are things that I just don’t
know (actually, there are many things in that category!) but tentatively accept even if they
appear to fit into my worldview.
I never hold my
worldview that strongly – I am always open to being corrected, to
changing what needs to be changed, and thereby grow as an individual,
and – importantly – hopefully avoid being chained to something
that pertains solely to my temporal nature.
It is also important to
understand the purpose of a ‘worldview’, and that is why I
referred to it above as “scaffolding of my temporal personality”.
It allows us to orient our own-Self in this world. But what may be
useful in this world, may be a hindrance in the next. A worldview is
something we create throughout our life, it is not something that is
part of our true-I nature (our Spiritual core), but it is something
necessary for our temporal orientation. The point I want to make
here is that often someone, or something, comes along and challenges
our worldview in some way, not necessarily in an aggressive way, but
in a way that makes us react. This reaction may be defensive
(“I know the truth, and you are wrong”) or it may be sympathetic
(“perhaps you have a point, and I’ll think about that”). I’ve
noticed that most people react defensively to challenges, not really
being willing to engage in conversation, and not really being open to
what the world may be saying. This is unfortunate, because the
Spirit is not limited by parochialism and goes where it wills.
When peoples firmly
held worldviews are challenged, they often react in such a way that
the message within the challenge (which is not necessarily vocalized)
does not reach them. Their antipathy is like a closed door. We all
exhibit this type of behavior, for it is a natural part of our
temporal condition. The trick is to learn to overcome these (largely
unconscious) reactions so that they do not control us, but help us to
understand things better, thereby building our own character and
perhaps learning a thing or two from the message as well.
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