Introduction
While discussing a personal worldview, it is necessary to concentrate on the idea of spirituality in this context. Furthermore, it is also important to understand how the concepts of pluralism, scientism, and postmodernism can be related to one’s outlook and spirituality. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to represent one’s personal worldview through discussing different meanings of spirituality, analyzing pluralism, scientism, and postmodernism, and providing answers to seven significant questions regarding the world outlook.
Spirituality, Pluralism, Scientism, and Postmodernism
On the one hand, spirituality can be viewed as a person’s focus on one’s spirit, its nature, and role in forming a personality. Furthermore, spirituality is also a complex of a person’s beliefs and practices to remain spiritual and connected with something unseen but having significance for an individual. On the other hand, spirituality can be discussed in the context of religion as a person’s attitude to God and acting according to some moral and religious norms (Potgieter & Walt, 2014). It is possible to state that a complex vision of spirituality should combine all these aspects in order to help a person act in the most meaningful and spiritual way.
In addition, it is also necessary to refer to discussing pluralism, scientism, and postmodernism in relation to spirituality. Pluralism is a specific worldview that is based on the idea that multiple religious beliefs and practices can easily exist in the world and form persons’ unique spirituality. Scientism is a worldview, according to which science is discussed as explaining all observed processes in the material world, and spirituality is not viewed as important in contrast to the empirical method in this context. Postmodernism is a philosophy and a worldview, according to which all existing religious beliefs and aspects of spirituality can be assessed as equally valid and relative in their nature (Denton, 2014; Potgieter & Walt, 2014). In the context of providing care, one can accept any of these worldviews, but pluralistic and postmodern ideas are more preferable because they allow for focusing on an individual’s spirituality that can determine his or her perceptions and actions.
Answering Worldview Questions
In the context of the worldview based on religious beliefs, prime reality should be discussed as God Himself because He created the world. As a result, the nature of the world around should be viewed as divine and developing according to God’s laws. The world is created by God, and it is ruled by the statements reflected in the Bible. From this perspective, a human can be described as a wonderful being that is created in the image of God (Denton, 2014). However, it is also important to note that a human being has both the material and spiritual nature, and this aspect determines an individual’s character, worldview, perceptions, and actions.
One more important question to answer is what can happen to any person at death. Thus, one should note that, according to some religious ideas and beliefs, death cannot be viewed as the final point for a human being in his or her evolution, and it affects only the physical body of a person. It is possible to believe that the spirit has its path after death and can be transformed to the higher creation associated with the divine nature. It is also important to provide the answer to the question of knowing something. According to the principles of such a philosophical study as epistemology, a person can know everything that is related to his or her experience or the experience of other people (Anastas, 2014). Still, some knowledge remains unopened to a human being.
People can also distinguish between right and wrong actions with reference to God’s word that is reflected in the Bible. Even if an individual does not share certain religious beliefs, the experience of the humanity has resulted in creating certain moral norms that are recognized and adopted almost equally in different parts of the world to help people determine what is right or wrong in this or that case. Finally, one should concentrate on the meaning of human history in the context of a personal worldview. This meaning can be declared through the perception of human history as people’s path toward the divine goal set by God (Potgieter & Walt, 2014). Thus, in this context, history demonstrates the humanity’s evolution on its path to resolving or addressing God’s highest purpose.
Conclusion
One’s personal worldview is often associated with sharing this or that philosophical standpoint, such as pluralism, scientism, and postmodernism. These standpoints determine how an individual can view spiritual and material aspects in relation to understanding a human’s nature and the principles of the world’s creation and development. From this perspective, the answers to the basic worldview questions can help understand how spirituality and religion may influence individuals’ perceptions of the world and the role of a person in it. The focus on one’s personal worldview is important to determine beliefs and assumptions that are behind an individual’s actions and his or her choice of this or that path or reaction.
References
Anastas, J. W. (2014). The science of social work and its relationship to social work practice. Research on Social Work Practice, 24(5), 571-580.
Denton, R. A. (2014). Exploring biblical reformational theology as a normative perspective for Christian psychology. In die Skriflig, 48(1), 1-11.
Potgieter, F. J., & Walt, J. L. (2014). Is religious fundamentalism our default spirituality? Implications for teacher education. HTS Theological Studies, 70(1), 1-9.