Worldviews are Tools

A worldview is a tool to navigate the journey through life. 

All of them are faulty, imperfect, and limited. Some match reality more closely than others. None match it completely. None ever will. 

Like any tool, some people use their worldview skillfully, while others use the same worldview to harm and hurt. The goal should be to use the best tool in the most useful way.

This, I believe, is what the Buddha meant when he taught that the first aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path is right view. But "right" gives one the wrong impression.

The Pali word translated "right" is sammā, but it actually means "thoroughly, properly, rightly; in the right way, as it ought to be, best, perfectly" (PTS Pali-English Dictionary). The best translation would be "skillful view."

A skillful worldview is one that is aware that there is not one right way of looking at things. There are as many perspectives as their are people. Each has an aspect of truth, none have its fullness. A skillful view uses beliefs as a tool for practice rather than a substitute for it.

Jay Forrest Blog




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