|
|
When faced with a task as daunting as developing a worldview, it is sometimes helpful to see concrete examples. In this section of our website, we have collected worldviews and worldview fragments that people have shared with us. As an organization, we do not promote a particular worldview. Instead, we encourage others to develop their own worldview that is consistent with and makes the best use of the insights that science has uncovered. We offer the following exerpts to help stimulate your own thinking. We encourage you to share your thoughts with us by writing to us. Inputs from the First Annual Conference on Science IntegrationDuring our First Annual Conference, we asked our participants to reflect on what they considered to be their role in an expanding and evolving universe. Here are some of the inputs we received: Entry #1My Identity - One of an intelligent species, which itself is probably one among many, and these many may ultimately influence the behavior of the physical universe. My Purpose - I have a sense of morality and a feeling that I should dedicate my life in some part to advancing humanity - its knowledge or its abilities. These feelings seem to be BIOLOGICALLY part of me, rather than only what I've been taught. The Reason - All this begs the question of why I exist, or anyone else I suppose, and I suspect an answer exists - an answer that religion is not extraordinary enough to provide, probably. We could be part of another being's dream, but then why should that being exist? I think we should seek those answers, and I do not believe they are beyond our ability to find. Personally, I want to spread knowledge of science. Entry #2We (humans) are but one of many evolving expressions of life in a 14plus- billion-year-old process of cosmic evolution. The common analogy goes something like this: If one hour represents the whole 14 billion year universe, humankind represents less than a second. Thus, knowledge of the vastness of the universe is humbling or at worst, leaves us feeling meaningless/useless. However, to be part of this cosmic evolution, to be a part of the whole of cosmic evolution, is awesome. It leaves me feeling at one with the 14 billion-year-old cosmic process. Here on this tiny, perhaps insignificant planet in one solar system of one galaxy in the universe, I believe it is our task to live at harmony with other life-forms on the planet. To bring about a more liberated life for as many life-forms as we can in each and every thing we do seems to be the point of life. In order to accomplish this goal, we need physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, psychology, philosophy, theology, etc. Through integrating our knowledge of "reality as we know it" in the year 2000 with the highest expression of human consciousness, we can learn how to live in the world in ways that are more sustainable for all life forms in the world. Entry #3One idea is that we are part of the emerging consciousness of the universe - that the universe is becoming conscious of itself through us (and any other conscious civilizations in the universe). If this is the case, then it may be up to us to create meaning, not just discover what's already been defined as meaning by some external force. Sample Worldviews
|
