By Father Eugene Hemrick • Catholic News Service • Posted June 4, 2021

Do you possess a worldview? If so, what is it?

The German word “Weltanschauung” means worldview. On its importance, Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), a professor at the University of Berlin, wrote:

“Human beings search for coherence of their lives. They desire a sense of the unity, their view of natural order, their understanding of human life, and their set of moral values and religious beliefs. This understanding of the whole is one’s Weltanschauung.

“It is the frame of reference in which one, on the basis of a perception of the world, questions meaning and significance of the world and which are resolved the ideal, the good, and the most important standard by which one conducts one’s life are derived.”

When Albert Einstein reflected on the cosmos and its laws, it inspired in him to a worldview in which he envisioned God revealing “himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.”

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In Thomas Cahill’s book “Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter,” he observes:

“The worldview that underlay the New Testament was so different from the Greeks and Romans as to be almost its opposite. It was a worldview that stressed not excellence of public achievement but the adventure of a personal journey with God, a lifetime journey in which a human being was invited to unite himself to God by imitating God’s justice and mercy. …

“The one God of the Jews had created the world and everything in it, and God would bring the world to its end.”

When we study the meaning of God’s providence, another worldview comes to mind. Providence means God is guiding our life, but we have the responsibility to partner with God in caring for God’s creation. As God guides us, so too should we guide God’s creation.

In Spanish, “loco” means crazy, a word that I am hearing friends increasingly utter about life’s bizarreness. The cause of their frustration is the absence of coherence and sense of unity that an inspiring worldview creates. Without this, depression is inevitable due to a lack of meaning and consequently hope.

The times demand that we examine earnestly our Christian worldview and its significance in keeping us mentally and spiritually fit.