Why
do I need a New World View?
By Kim Michaels
If you are serious
about finding your personal answers to life's deeper questions, you
can benefit greatly from developing a new world view.
There are several reasons why a new world view is needed:
- The world view
held by most people has been obsolete since 1905. Most people cling
to a pre-Einsteinian world view based on a dualism. The Theory of
Relativity made this world view obsolete.
- If your present
world view cannot answer all of your questions about life (and if
it could, why would you be reading this?), you must expand or refine
that world view. If you are not willing to do so, you must give up
trying to find answers.
- If you grew
up in the West, you have been exposed to a schizophrenic world view
that is the product of a conflict between two opposing belief-systems,
namely religion (specifically orthodox Christianity) and science (specifically
scientific materialism). This conflict makes it extremely difficult
for anyone to construct a consistent and coherent world view that
can answer all of our questions about life. If you are serious about
finding personal answers, you need to look beyond this conflict.
You must continually refine your world view
The How to find
answers section of this site explains that every human being needs
a foundation for his or her journey through the material universe. This
foundation is a set of facts, ideas and beliefs that the person considers
valid and reliable. These elements form the person’s world view
and this view affects how we see ourselves, the world and our relationship
to that world.
The key to improving any aspect of life (from bringing forth a new invention
to solving a personal problem) is to increase your understanding of
the problem. Therefore, the very essence of any kind of personal growth
is that you must expand and refine your world view.
As we grow in our understanding of the world, new ideas continually
emerge, and you can benefit greatly by incorporating some of these ideas
into your personal world view. History has clearly proven that while
human beings can delay the emergence of new ideas, they cannot stop
these ideas. Therefore, new ideas continue to emerge. Some people refuse
to accept such ideas, while others embrace them and use them to improve
their lives. Usually, a small group of people accept a new idea long
before it becomes accepted by the general population.
To be open or not to be open
During a lifetime, most people will be confronted with several new ideas.
You can take two approaches to dealing with such ideas:
- The closed-minded
approach. People who take this approach refuse to consider
new ideas and they cling to their existing world view. If their existing
world view cannot answer their questions, they have no other option
than to stop asking those questions. Such people often close their
minds to any new idea, or they start a life-long quest to discredit
any new idea in an attempt to prove why they don’t need to refine
their existing world view.
- The open-minded
approach. People who take this approach are willing to consider
new ideas and they accept that life is a process of learning, whereby
you continually refine and expand your personal world view. If these
people’s present world view cannot answer a question, they keep
looking for new ideas until they find a satisfactory answer.
The key to personal
growth is to take the open-minded approach, but to do so by activating
your intuitive faculties. In other words, do not simply accept an idea
based on a statement from some authority figure outside yourself. Use
your intuition to gain a deeper, personal understanding of the idea.
Then, use that inner understanding to refine your world view.
What is the idea’s explanatory power?
When evaluating a new idea, you might find it helpful to apply a technique
used by many scientists. When you first come across a new idea, your
lower mind has a tendency to make an immediate judgment about that idea
based on how the idea compares to your existing beliefs. To take the
open-minded approach, you need to neutralize this tendency, or you will
reject any idea that goes beyond your present beliefs.
Therefore, when confronted with a new idea, make a conscious decision
that you will not attempt to judge whether the idea is true. Instead,
you will open-mindedly consider whether the idea might explain something
that your existing world view cannot explain. In other words, you are
simply investigating the explanatory power of the new idea.
By making this commitment, you can avoid feeling threatened by a new
idea. You can, so to speak, bypass the judgmental lower mind and its
attachment to your existing beliefs. By neutralizing the tendency to
judge, you have a much better foundation for using your intuition to
evaluate the idea. You can now apply your intuition in a sincere and
objective attempt to gain a deeper, personal understanding of the idea.
Once you have this understanding, it becomes much easier to evaluate
whether you should incorporate the idea into your world view or simply
ignore it and move on.
Time for a new world view
History has proven that it often takes a long time before a new discovery
(be it in the field of science or spirituality) is accepted by the general
population and incorporated into people’s world view. This explains
why most people, including most scientists, have not let go of the dualistic
world view which was proven incorrect by Einstein in 1905.
It is now time to let go of this dualistic world view and embrace a
new view based on the fact that everything is energy. This fact has
profound implications for every aspect of our lives, especially for
personal growth.
The dualistic world view is based on the senses. Our senses tell us
that the world is made from two distinctly different elements, namely
an ever-moving element (energy) and a stable, non-changing element (matter).
Our senses also tell us that we live in a world with boundaries and
barriers. We see barriers between matter and energy, between matter
and mind, between mind and body. Our senses cannot penetrate these barriers,
and they cannot detect anything beyond the material universe.
Fortunately, human beings have a unique ability to reach beyond the
senses or the surface consciousness of the lower mind. By activating
this ability, we can gain a deeper understanding, even if it contradicts
the world view based on sensory perception.
Throughout history, people from every civilization have attempted to
reach beyond the sensory view of the world. It was this drive for deeper
answers that led Einstein to the Theory of Relativity. It is time for
you to activate your ability to go beyond surface appearances and to
see how you can use the Theory of Relativity to refine your world view
and thereby enhance your self-help efforts and your spiritual growth.
To discover why
it is so important to adjust your world view based on the fact that
everything is energy, click here.
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Copyright
© Kim Michaels, 2003 |
