The Universe Next Door; A Basic Worldview Catalog by James W. Sire Three Worldviews

1. Naturalism Matter exists eternally and is all there is. God does not exist. The cosmos exists as a uniformity of cause and effect in a closed system. Human beings are complex “machines”; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand. Death is extinction of personality and individuality. Ethics is related only to human beings – we arbitrarily decide what is right and wrong History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose.

2. Eastern Pantheism Atman (soul) is Brahman (ultimate reality or cosmos); that is, the soul of each and every human being is the Soul of the cosmos. Many (if not all) roads lead to the One. To realize one’s oneness with the cosmos is to pass beyond personality and knowledge. The principle of non-contradiction does not apply where ultimate reality is concerned. To realize one’s oneness with the cosmos is to pass beyond good and evil; the cosmos is perfect at every moment. Death is the end of individual, personal existence, but it changes nothing essential in an individual’s nature. To realize one’s oneness with the One is to pass beyond time. Time is unreal. History is cyclical.

3. Postmodernism Matter exists; God does not exist. There is no metanarrative - no one overarching story that has authority or validity over other stories Christian Theists, Naturalists, Eastern Pantheists, Post Modernists, etc., each have their own stories; all stories are equally valid The story of your own community is valid and gives life meaning Social good is whatever a society takes it to be. There is no substantial self. Human beings make themselves who they are by the languages they construct about themselves.