Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 1. World Views 10
belonging. Some folks seem to be born with this feeling (the number is very few,
however), but most begin to develop a feeling that “Surely, this can’t be all there is!”
From that point on, the search has begun. It is this unfilled need which drives and
spurs on scientific research, goads philosophers, causes spouse to leave spouse, and
children to leave home. It is the feeling that the grass is always greener somewhere
else, the human longing to return to Eden, Oz, or to the Land of the Ancestors.
The search for “wholeness” is the reason why cults and gangs never seem to lack
for members, and why suicide often seems the only viable choice for the chronically
depressed. This book is about this search.
Stability is an important function of a worldview. Stability comes from knowing
where one stands within the family, community, or world and from being able to
predict with a fair degree of accuracy what one’s standing will be tomorrow. Stability
springs from being able to remember and compare the past to the present, and
from being able to project that information into the future: “I was born as my
mother’s son, I still am my mother’s son, and I will continue to be my mother’s
son.” Such a simplistic statement should be easily understood by anybody with
any sense at all! Not quite . . . . There are a whole variety of events, disorders, or
choices which can lead to a disintegration of even the simplest forms of stability.
Individuals in any of these cases can be thrown into madness where the world no
longer holds any meaning and where chaos is the order of the day! Amnesia induced
by blows to the head or by drug overdoses is a complete loss of identity in many
cases requiring institutionalization and extensive treatment. Alzheimer’s Disease
decreases the ability to interact with the world efficiently. Severe psychological
disorders such as schizophrenia and diseases like chronic drug or alcohol addiction
can lead to a break with one’s personal worldview and certainly with consensus
reality by either mutating existing worldviews or in some cases even generating
a new one. Psychological trauma such as Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, Near
Death Experiences (NDE’s), or the death of a loved one can lead to the permanent
dismantling or rearranging of one’s worldview. Although for an outsider looking
in, it appears that nothing has changed, i.e. “he is still his mother’s son,” but for
the afflicted individual, it is the world that has gone mad. There is no longer any
stability. The world appears in a constant state of flux and, because of this, there
is no possibility of being able to predict. To end the madness, a new worldview is
needed to regain some sense of stability.
Worldviews are changed by outside forces as well often associated with trauma,
crises, or changes in consensus reality and is bound to occur particularly if the
original is very rigid in nature. Some of these changes may take place quietly
through choices, although somewhat rarer and more difficult to obtain a complete
break from one’s own worldview, can also be effective. The adoption into certain