Worldview “Lens?”
I have seen worldview described as a “lens” through which you see the world. You may find this helpful to initially grasp the concept, but I will argue that the reality of “worldview” goes far beyond that.
So before I get to that, what is a lens? Or, more importantly, what image does a “lens” bring to mind for people who hear it? For most people, we would think of something like a camera, a pair of glasses, binoculars, telescopes or the like. Perhaps you could even think of a lens that will tint everything red, green, or blue. But ultimately, when we think of a lens, we don’t think of something that will fundamentally alter our entire perception of the world.
To delve a little further into what I mean by that, think of a telescope lens. The telescope, if it is a refractive type, uses a lens that makes something appear larger. It doesn’t actually change the appearance of what you are looking at. It simply makes it bigger. If you looked through a refractive telescope in reverse, the object on the other side would seem much smaller. Fundamentally, though, its appearance would remain the same.
The same is true of a colored lens, such as red. You could look through a red lens, and everything would seem to be tinted red. However, the shape, feel, and overall physical properties of whatever you are looking at would remain the same. You could take a blue lens and everything would be tinted blue. Nothing else would change.
Worldview as Intellectual and Spiritual Senses
I readily acknowledge that this is still an imperfect analogy, but I think it is more helpful to imagine a worldview as a parallel of the 5 senses through which we physically perceive the world. This, in fact, echoes the principle uttered by the Lord Jesus Himself when He told His disciples “if the blind leads the blind, then both will fall into a pit.” The lesson He is imparting, as we clearly can tell from the context, is not about physically blind people. Rather, it has to do with spiritual blindness.
This is where the “worldview” comes into play. The reason I prefer to think of it as an intellectual and spiritual parallel to our physical 5 senses is that we don’t perceive the physical world through sight only. Similarly, there is not a single defining principle that determines our worldview. Rather, our entire worldview is the result of a series of assumptions that we accepted either knowingly or unknowingly through the course of our lives. Furthermore, we often don’t even realize the assumptions that shape our worldviews.
I also like this way of thinking of worldviews because it demonstrates how drastically different the perspectives can be. Instead of just imagining a world, for example, where everything looks red, or fuzzy, or ultra-clear, we can think of a world that is completely dark, or without sound, or without touch, smell, or taste. While it is undeniable that a person looking through a red lens and a person looking through a blue lens see the same world, only with a slightly different tint, it is equally undeniable that the world a person without the ability to hear experiences is vastly different than somebody with all 5 senses. Additionally, that world is entirely different than the world that someone who cannot see experiences, and so on and so forth.
In a similar vein, one who perceives the world intellectually through the premise that no God or gods exist perceives a completely different world than the one who perceives through the premise that God exists. Furthermore, one who perceives the world through the premise that the God of the Hebrews, that is, Yahweh, exists, perceives the world very differently than the one who perceives through the premise that Zeus exists.
How Much Difference Can a Worldview Make Really?
So is this really important? Or is this just an intellectual exercise that has no bearing in practical reality?
In short, understanding worldviews is very important in practicality. I won’t deny that some worldviews hold no practical implications, but your worldview determines how you handle every situation that arises. In that light, you should know for sure what worldview you subscribe to and why.
My next post, Lord willing, will address the concept of “premises,” which I used a couple of times in this introduction, as well as delve into some of the most important premises that build our worldviews. But for now, I hope that you at least understand what a worldview is and why it’s important to understand yours.