Ideas from Brights Central

Expressing Your Kind of “Worldview”

Here at Brights Central, what defines a bright has two parts: (1) naturalistic and (2) worldview. Let’s take a closer look at each word separately

The naturalistic part: A naturalistic worldview really doesn’t need to carry an “ism” label, like naturalism. Others may tell you that it does, but it doesn’t. The meaning – as we see it – is really humbler.

How so? If we can imagine anyone carefully inspecting your life stance (from the outside in), they’d find just naturalistic accounts. ("Nothing supernatural or mystical to see in there," any observer would report.) This doesn’t signify that you must therefore be holding onto some specific ideology or philosophy. (Maybe you do; maybe you don’t. But it is not for someone else to ascribe.)

Of course, many brights do conceive theirs to be a philosophical stance. They regard their view of life as appropriately matched to a definition of some form of naturalism. Fine. It may be something that they “think through” to discount the supernatural as false. Not everyone enacts that sort of process.

The worldview part: Listed here are several interpretations of the “worldview” part of the definition. They all basically come down to the same general notion. We each can express the gist of our particular [naturalistic] worldview in our own manner.

It is the overall perspective from which you regard and interpret the world.
It consists of the basic assumptions and images that deliver to you a more or less coherent way of thinking about the world. (Note: it’s coherent, but not necessarily accurate!)
It is your personal collection of beliefs about life and the universe.
It is your own discernment, developed in part because you have sought some understanding of your own significance.
It is the very skeleton of concrete assumptions on which the flesh of your customary conduct is hung.
It is your personal insight about reality and meaning, often called a life stance.