Weltanschauung

From Reader's Digest Universal Dictionary p.1701

Weltanschauung is a German word for one’s personal philosophy or worldview. We all have our own Weltanschauung though we may not be conscious of it. Our actions are guided by our Weltanschauung. If we see the world as a hostile place, we will keep a safe distance from it or deal with it warily. The Weltanschauung of Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa was moulded by compassion while that of Jawaharlal Nehru and Bertrand Russell was founded on reason and logic.

While our genes play a major role in shaping our Weltanschauung, the environment in which we grew up and the people who nurtured us in our childhood are responsible for our Weltanschauung to a great extent. My Weltanschauung would have been quite different from what it is, had I been brought up in a different environment and taught by different people. Having said that, I must hasten to add that as I grew up into adulthood I changed much of what my parents and teachers (including the religious teachers who did much harm while trying to do good) taught me.

We can all change our views if we wish. Most of us don’t care to, however. We’d prefer to go by what has been injected into our psyche by the significant people in our lives. So we grow up hating people in the name of religions and castes, languages and cultures, nationality and race.

Right now we, Indians, live in an environment which teaches us to hate a lot of people in the name of immaterial things like religion and cultural nationalism. Our political leaders foment hatred for their own nefarious purposes and we are not sharp enough to perceive their vileness. Or our Weltanschauung has been distorted so much by them and other pernicious creatures wearing religious garbs that we perceive quite many people as our enemies.

Our Weltanschauung is of vital importance. It can create joy or misery for ourselves as well as others. Can we not make our world a more joyful place for all of us? The answer lies in your (as well as my) Weltanschauung.

PS. Written for Indispire Edition 219: