Find Your Unique Way: Challenge Worldviews

In this part of the course you will discover your unique and inherent value system. You will be able to differentiate what worldviews serve you, and which ones don’t. By finding your way, and being content with what your world should look like you will feel connected to everything and everyone and come to accept that you are part of something bigger.

Transcript

So today we'll look at how you can bring awareness to your worldview and your belief system and,

If necessary,

Learn how to adjust them.

Our goal is to bring clarity to what a belief system actually is and to understand what parts of your belief system serve you and what parts don't.

Stephen Jay Gould said,

Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview,

Nothing more constraining,

More blinding to innovation,

More destructive of openness to novelty.

Plenty of reasons for you to become aware of your worldview.

First of all,

I want to underline how powerful belief systems are.

They are incredibly important because they give you an idea of who you are.

Your worldview gives you a framework with which you can somehow make sense of all the madness that is life.

Everyone has belief systems and no matter if you're aware of them or not,

They dictate your actions and reactions.

Now let us look at how you actually created your belief system and worldview.

How did you end up here?

Firstly,

Your current belief system is heavily influenced by the way you've been brought up.

How you perceive and interpret this world has been taught to you,

Mainly by your parents.

Your worldview was also heavily influenced by your social surroundings,

Your school,

Your friends,

Your religious group and your political system.

You were not born with a belief system,

It was taught to you in your childhood.

Of course,

Your current worldview is not the same anymore,

But your basic framework has been created during your childhood.

Now,

Once you're an adult,

Your belief system is constantly influenced by and changed by the world you choose to live in and also by the norm of the society you live in.

The norm is what is generally accepted as how things work by the majority of people.

This norm is automatically,

At least partially,

Accepted by all of us.

And if you want to change parts of your belief system,

You first need to become aware of how it constantly is influenced by the norm.

So let us look at how we are all influenced to accept certain norms.

For example,

For most of us,

War seems rather normal when it comes to geopolitical problem solving.

Imagine your reaction to the news that there is war going on somewhere in this world.

Most likely you will not freak out.

You might be saddened by the news,

But you most likely don't think that war is unbelievable and fundamentally insane.

You're so used to seeing these kinds of news,

They're part of your norm,

Part of your worldview.

Another example is that most of us think that it is normal that billionaires exist in this world while they're also starving children.

Again,

This might temporarily sadden or upset you,

But your brain will find a way to adopt this norm as part of your worldview.

This is why I would like to invite you to start challenging the norm,

To see what parts of the norm suit your belief system and what parts don't.

The norm is never all good or all bad,

So try to dissect it instead of judging it.

Now,

As I mentioned earlier,

The process of creating a belief system is ongoing.

This means you're constantly confirming or slightly changing your belief system.

So when receiving outside information,

It is important to fundamentally differentiate types of information.

One type of information that your brain receives is unchangeable universal beliefs.

For example,

You're alive,

You're wearing socks,

The water is wet and so on.

The second type is beliefs you have for your identity.

Examples are that you are a great football player or that you are smart or dumb.

These beliefs usually originate in your childhood and are hard to break.

They seem to be part of your DNA given to you by birth.

However,

You can change these beliefs.

Just make sure a change serves you.

The third type of beliefs you have is given by your leaders.

For example,

Teachers,

Scientists,

Scholars,

Doctors and so on will influence certain beliefs.

You usually accept them without questioning them too much,

Which can be a blessing or a curse.

The next type is beliefs you adopt from people who you see as being on your level of intellect,

Wisdom and knowledge.

For example,

Friends,

Family,

Colleagues and so on.

Anything these people say will not be challenged too much,

But also not believed as ultimate truths.

The last type of belief is merely taste.

And we all know that taste can easily change.

Examples are enjoying chocolate or certain movies or maybe you like the beach better than mountains and so on.

Becoming more aware of these different types of information makes you understand how your belief systems are constructed and how easy or hard it is to change them.

Becoming aware of all this is the foundation for conscious change.

Now,

Let us go even further in becoming more aware.

Let us understand basic types of world views as well.

Your worldview is of course a unique mixture,

But understanding basic categories allows for a faster gain in awareness of how they influence you.

So there are five overarching worldviews.

The first overarching worldview is attitudinal.

This usually means that a person allows themselves to experience their deeper feelings towards something and lets these feelings influence their actions and reactions.

The next worldview is ideological,

Which means you experience the world through the lenses created by ideas from a certain group.

This could be a political or economic ideology,

For example.

This worldview often makes people act unconsciously.

Also,

Ideological people are often completely unaware of why they act in a certain way.

For example,

I would imagine that almost all racists have actually no idea of why they actually have a racist framework.

The next basic worldview I want to mention is philosophical.

This means you experience the world through a collection of ideas that question everything.

Philosophical ideas are usually reasonable and based on famous thinkers.

The last worldview I want to mention is religious,

Which means you see the world through a belief system that follows a supernatural element.

Religious worldviews are usually anchored in a specific scripture and have a leader.

Now,

Again,

Your personal worldview was and is shaped by all of the above,

But one worldview will most likely be dominant.

This is important because your dominant belief systems and worldview have a huge influence on the way you react to this world.

Let's look at how different worldviews can shape different reactions to the same external stimuli.

Let's use news about climate change as an example.

How could people with different worldviews react to climate change?

The attitudinal person might ignore it or might be saddened by what is going on.

The ideological person might say climate change will kill us all or say climate change is a hoax depending on what ideology they follow.

The philosophical person might see it as an abstract concept and will most likely look at the bigger picture of human existence.

The religious person,

On the other hand,

Might not even believe in climate change or think of it as the plan of a supernatural being.

You see,

For one external stimulus there are not only different reactions but completely different ways to experience the external world in the first place.

Also,

Depending on the strength of your worldview,

You might see people with different worldviews than yours as fools because according to your worldview they are wrong.

But maybe it is not really serving you to judge whether you're right or wrong.

It might serve you more to be aware of your belief system and to understand why you react in a certain way in the first place.

Now,

Once you are completely aware of your worldview,

You can decide which parts of it serve you and which parts don't.

And it's not easy to do but you can change your glasses,

Your framework,

Change your belief system.

You can change how you fundamentally experience this world.

Let us look at how you can do that now.

You live your life in a way that you want to confirm your worldview and belief system constantly.

We need to be careful here because your mind tricks you into seeing things in a certain way in order to keep your worldview.

If you are able to open your mind and approach your worldview as flexible,

You will not live a life based on confirming but rather on developing.

Growth is only possible if you see your current worldview as a developing project,

As not set in stone,

As not completely perfect.

Now,

Once you open your mind and start becoming more conscious of your worldview,

Don't try to change things quickly.

I would recommend accepting and embracing the parts of your worldview that you like and that serve you first.

By accepting and confirming these parts,

You actually anchor your current identity around what is really important to you,

Which allows you to be more open to change in other areas.

Now,

Just as much as you accept yourself,

Accept others.

When you stop alienating people based on their personal worldview and embrace them on a human level,

You connect to people easier.

You also automatically keep your mind open as to your own framework and potentially allow for personal development.

Being open and interested in other people's belief systems also has the effect that these people are able to reflect and become more conscious of themselves.

Next,

I want to mention courage.

Courage allows for different and new experiences and only experiences will allow you to grow.

So go ahead,

Float in the river and allow yourself to end up in places you haven't been before with people you haven't met before.

Again,

It is experiences that will develop your personality.

You can't grow merely by reading books,

Absorbing discourse or any other theoretical information.

Make as many experiences as you can.

You are an ever-changing bundle of belief systems that help you navigate this world the best way possible.