Thinking about Self

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am fascinated by the concept of "worldview".  There are a lot of different opinions about the idea (read the wikipedia article) but the most simple explanation is that a worldview is our way of looking at the world.  Its a filter or a lens through which we evaluate everything we see, hear, and otherwise experience. 

People who study this stuff say that our worldview is formed and influenced by many different factors; the culture we live in, our experience within the family, our education, exposure to various forms of religion, art, and entertainment etc.  All of this comes together to create our understanding of the world and our place in it.

Recently I listened to a talk by Lou Huesmann in which he addressed the concept of personal identity, which in my opinion is a subset of worldview.  Of course, there are quite a few ideas among thinkers about the nature of personal identity (as you can read here) but I am primarily interested in how our concept of our own identity impacts and informs our overall worldview.   

Think about it... how would you describe yourself?  And how does that understanding affect how you think and plan and interact with others and respond to the various circumstances of your life?  What possibilities are within your grasp, according to your understanding?  What kind of things are not available to you, because of who you are?  All kinds of things affect this... your view of gender, age, race, education, physical beauty, and social status contribute profoundly to your self-concept.

Even more significantly, your belief in whose you are will dramatically affect your understanding of your place in the world.  Do you see yourself as existentially meaningless, the product of millions of years of random mutations, a highly developed animal currently at the top of the food chain?  Or do you see yourself as one with an eternal soul, created in the image of God, and reflecting (albeit in an imperfect sense) something of His character and glory?  Its easy to see that you will come to very different conclusions about life and purpose and ultimate meaning depending on where you land on this fundamental issue.

I want to continue to process these thoughts and perhaps post a more pragmatic article in the future, but for now I just wanted to share these thoughts in the hope that they might not only stimulate your thinking but also help you engage others in discussions about truth, and how our method of processing truth is often controlled by issues such as worldview and identity, issues that often lurk below the surface.  More to come on this subject!