Chapter 21 Kundalini and Worldviews 1

Worldviews act somewhat like contact lenses. That is, a worldview should provide the correct "prescription" for making sense of the world just as wearing the correct prescription for your eyes brings things into focus. And, in either example, an incorrect prescription can be dangerous. Thus it's important for us to give attention to the formulation of the proper worldview. 
James Soloman – Article on Worldviews

As a result of kundalini rising, I’ve come in contact with the word “worldview” many times. Kundalini rising has also been described as an experience that either collapses or severely alters ones worldview. Therefore, I have an interest in exploring this term in order to deal with questions that come to mine such as:

Is there an ideal worldview? What is my worldview? What determines my worldview? How can I change it? 

Arthur Holmes states that the need for a worldview is fourfold:

1. the need to unify thought and life;
2. the need to define the good life and find hope and meaning in life;
3. the need to guide thought;
4. the need to guide action."

For this posting, I would like to describe three worldviews that are prevalent in our society today. This is certainly not all of them; however, I suspect most of us will fall into one of these or have ingredients that are predominating in one.

Naturalism

The basic tenet of this worldview is that God is not relevant. It’s a worldview where progress and evolutionary change are inevitable. People are autonomous, self-centered and will save themselves. Education is the guide to life, and intelligence and freedom will guarantee our full human potential. Science is the ultimate provider both for knowledge and morals. In more recent times this worldview has moved to a postmodernism with the conclusion that truth, in any real sense, does not exist. We see these tenets today in the media, government, and education system.

Theism

The basic tenet of this worldview is that there is an infinite-personal God who has created the universe out of nothing. People were originally created good in God’s image, but for reasons (depending on the religion) we have become infected from our true nature, and the conditions that give rise to this infection continue to exist and influence us today, but we are endowed with values of the creator. Death (in its many definitions) is either the gate to life or separation depending upon the response we give to God’s provisions. The guidelines for conduct are revealed by God. Reason and experience can be legitimate teachers, but a transcendent source is necessary. We know these things because they are revealed through scripture. History is a linear and meaningful sequence of events leading to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for us. We see these tenets in our places of worship and to a lessening degree in society which seems to be transitioning to Naturalism.

New Age
The basic tenet of this worldview is that there is no ultimate

distinction between humans, animals, or the rest of creation. Since all is one, all is God. All of life has a spark of divinity. If all is one and all is God, then each of us is God. People must discover their own divinity by experiencing a change in consciousness. But we currently suffer from a collective form of metaphysical amnesia. People travel through indefinite cycles of birth, death, and reincarnation in order to work off what is called “bad karma. People who have this worldview tend to think in terms of gray, not black and white. As a result, they can believe that two conflicting statements can both be true. These tenets are currently asserted through various media such as books, magazines, television and movies, but have also found support in the fields of medicine, psychology, sociology and education.

In our culture today, we are faced with a variety of worldviews, all of which make their claims concerning truth. Of course, we are all faced with the challenge to sort through this mixture of worldviews with some wisdom and discernment. When we do this work of discernment, then we may develop a worldview that will orient us towards an intellectual and philosophical terrain that will bring wholeness and fullness to our lives.

This raises the question about kundalini and worldviews that I would like to deal with in my next posting. Does kundalini collapse or dismantle our current worldview, or does it just collapse or dismantle certain aspects such as boundaries, defense mechanisms, constructs, etc. caused by negative influences such as childhood trauma and other habits and hurts we have experienced in our lifetime?