5 ‘World views’ the world can do without
Photo by Texture crazy
The world has been shaped and coloured by myriads of political ideologies, cultural dispositions, religious beliefs and spiritual affinities. It is also strongly influenced by the zeitgeist or the collective spirit of the moment.
Some of them have been good and perhaps even though strongly resisted or fought over at first, they were conducive to the right social change.
Some other ideologies were however pointless, unproductive, incurred suffering or waste of life and in the end only benefited the ruthless few in power.
In today’s world there still are general collective mindsets or beliefs, we call ‘worldviews’, that even though not directly harmful are at best a hindrance to human creativity but can turn into hatred and violence at their fiercest.
I have picked up the top five worldviews which I personally believe the world would be a better place without.
I’m sure there are more but I think that the ones below are general enough to capture further and more specific forms of worldviews.
Experiments in Faith and leaps of Science
Photo by Noel A.Tanner
One of the biggest ongoing debates in the last two centuries is definitely the one between the conflicting views of faith and science.
For too long now it seems that these views are not only irreconcilable but mutually exclusive. In simplistic terms, faith is commonly associated with the belief in a divine power which is not grounded in the senses, experience or reason. Science, on the other hand, is associated with the objective inquiry into the nature of the universe through experimentation, critical assessment, logic and reason.
Mixed messages of faith:
I was brought up in an ultra-conservative Roman Catholic country with a very fine line of divide between church and state. As a young inquisitive mind growing up in that cultural background I had learned to despise all those authoritative arguments about faith, dogma, and the narrow worldview of catholic doctrine they used to teach us at school.
I remember arguing with the priest that use to teach us religion class (which was compulsory of course) about the irrationality and blindness of dogma and he’d always answer with the same old answer – “It’s a matter of faith”. I used to hate that answer. I thought it was such an excuse for an answer when you don’t have enough reasons to back your arguments.
This is what mostly creates the conflict between reason and faith. It’s the reluctance of some people to have faith understood and assessed with a more evaluative undertone. They say that’s impossible because reason and faith are incompatible. Faith is faith and that’s the end of it.
Faith has another side though – a much more positive one which I have come to understand under a different light. (more…)
A Note on Happiness
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” Aristotle
Photo by Hadrien
Every living being in this world seeks happiness whether s/he is aware of it or not. It is the meaning and purpose of life as Aristotle had noted.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I hear you say. Yet is it really that obvious I dare ask again?
If it were that obvious why aren’t billion of dollars being spent in researching the ‘Science of Happiness’? Why aren’t political systems based on the pursuit, achievement and safeguarding of Happiness? Why aren’t there too many religions that instead of attaching themselves to Dogma and authority reorient their beliefs on the basic Human need of Happiness? Why isn’t Happiness a shared point of reference between political, ideological and International transactions?
Something is not that obviously straight forward to me. (more…)
