My series about creating a roadmap for better manhood continues with another important aspect: a well-thought-out worldview. After writing about A Man’s Identity and Discovering Your Purpose, the next aspect of becoming a mature man is a well-thought-out worldview to direct your life and decision-making. Your worldview is the loudest voice that influences whether he becomes a mature man or not. It also helps you navigate difficult situations, especially when it comes to learning to use your masculine traits for good.
What is a Worldview?
According to dictionary.com, Worldview is a comprehensive conception or philosophy of the universe and of humanity’s relation to it. Most often, one’s worldview is built on a religious, philosophical, scientific, political, or cultural foundation. Many times, several of these components combine to form someone’s worldview.
Your worldview is the lens through which you view, interpret, and engage in the reality of life to help you operate successfully in this world. It forms your personal philosophy about human life and how to treat other people. Whether you are aware of it or not, your worldview drives every thought, action, and word you speak. It is a strong influence that either enables unity or causes strife. It also impacts your decisions on education, career, finances, family, and friendships.
A worldview typically answers these questions at the core of human existence:
- Where did I come from? (Origin)
- What is life’s meaning? (Meaning)
- How do I define right from wrong? (Morality)
- What happens to me when I die? (Destiny)
Understanding each of these components is critical to your maturity as a man so let’s break down each to see how these impact your worldview and views of manhood.
Origin
Knowing where you come from provides a sense of identity and belonging as a man. It’s also understanding your roots and cultural heritage. For many men, understanding their family’s origins gives them a greater sense of connection to their past. It provides a deeper understanding of the traditions, values, and experiences that have shaped him. It may also help him learn about his family’s struggles and triumphs. Knowing these issues can help a man better appreciate his strengths and weaknesses in order to build his resilience and determination.
Understanding your origin is also important for health reasons. Certain medical conditions can be hereditary, but a good knowledge of your family’s health history can help inform your decisions about the importance of health screenings and appropriate preventive care to ward off heart disease, alcohol or drug addiction, and emotional distress and anxiety.
For the sake of this roadmap for better manhood, understanding these aspects of your origin is critical to becoming a mature man. My post about A Man’s Identity suggested that knowing who you are (as a man) and Whose you are (as a man of God) is important to your maturity. It also helps you realize which masculine traits are your strength so you can find meaning and purpose.
Meaning
The question of how to find the meaning of life is one that humans have pondered for centuries. It is deeply personal and subjective but one you can approach from many different angles, such as a philosophical, religious, political, or scientific foundation. While some guys may feel a strong need to understand the meaning of life, others may find it not relevant to their personal goals and values.
In my post, Discovering Your Purpose, I indicated that accepting your responsibility as a man impacts not just your own life, but that of many others. Once a man knows he must first learn to manage himself well, he can then learn how to help others. Simply knowing that your life has meaning is important though to find your purpose. This can be for secular reasons such as self-fulfillment, career advancement, and building success. From a biblical perspective, godly men realize that meaning is based on glorifying God in all that we do.
For purposes of the roadmap, finding the meaning of your life is your ultimate purpose here on earth. It’s also driven by your sense of morality.
Morality
A man’s worldview provides a clear set of values and principles that help him understand right and wrong. Morality is that “gut feeling” of knowing when he is sinning or when he is doing the right thing. It helps him make informed and ethical decisions that guide his actions in difficult situations. It encourages empathy and compassion. A man’s morality recognizes the needs of others so that he takes action to alleviate the suffering in the world. It leads to proper use of your masculine characteristics or “toxic” behavior when you misuse it. His morality helps him know how to be accountable for his choices.
For the roadmap to better manhood, a worldview based on high morality leads to the proper use of your masculine characteristics. It also helps you develop relationships with people who share your values. It helps you find men with whom you do life together who become your GodBuddies since I believe The Highest Type of Friendship is Spiritual.
Destiny
Understanding what happens when we die is possibly one of the greatest mysteries of life. Many people fear the unknown. Some know their eternal destiny. Others just don’t care when they die, since — well, they will be dead!
From a spiritual standpoint, some people believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. Christians believe their destiny is a place in Heaven once they die. As I wrote in A Friendship to Infinity and Beyond, a godly man understands that he does not need to earn his way into Heaven since God has befriended us by sending his Son, Jesus to show us a better way to live. Jesus Christ conquered death on the cross which gives us an undeserved gift of grace and forgiveness for our sins. Our destiny is based on accepting this free gift and learning to live like Jesus. It’s the one relationship with eternal benefits that changes your view of destiny.
For purposes of our roadmap, one of the best things a man can do is to understand his destiny and his legacy. This involves preparing for your death by making important decisions about end-of-life arrangements such as taking care of the insurance needs to provide financially for your family after you die. It’s making important funeral decisions ahead of time. But it also means living a good life so your family speaks proudly of you for many years after you leave this earth.
What’s Your Worldview?
Today there are several types of worldviews:
- Secularist (a person who advocates separation of the state from religious institutions)
- Naturalist (there is no God; humans are just highly evolved animals)
- Postmodernist (no objective truths and moral standards; “reality” is ultimately a human social construction)
- Pantheist (God is the totality of reality; thus, we are all divine by nature)
- Pluralists (the different world religions represent equally valid perspectives on the ultimate reality; there are many valid paths to salvation).
- Moralistic/therapeutic deism (God just wants us to be happy and nice to others; He intervenes in our affairs only when we call on Him to help us).
- Islamic (there is only one God, and He has no son; God has revealed His will for all people through His final prophet, Muhammad, and His eternal word, the Qur’an)
- Atheist (disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods)
- Pantheist (someone who believes in many gods),
- Christian (one who believes in a Triune God, specifically Jesus as Lord and Savior)
Each answers the four questions about Origin, Meaning, Morality, and Destiny differently. Each impacts what you may believe about being a man (Origin), how you operate in the world (Meaning), what behaviors you consider right or wrong (Morality), and how others will remember you after you die (Destiny).
The reality is your worldview becomes the loudest voice in your mind. It influences who you are as a man and how you behave. But a well-thought-out worldview is needed to become a mature man
Cultures’ Way or The King’s Way?
Today, the way of our culture is the strongest voice in many men’s heads. It also has a significant impact on his worldview by impacting his identity, self-esteem, relationships, and career choices. It also shapes his beliefs, values, attitudes, decision-making, habits, and behaviors. Unexamined, our culture exerts pressure on a man to conform to certain roles and behaviors. Unchecked, it leaves men with the wrong views on what is good and evil.
I believe there is a better voice to impact our worldview: it is the way of Jesus, the King of the World (Revelation 19:16). Jesus lived a perfect life and taught us to live according to different standards than what society said was acceptable. He taught us the way to love God and love others. Jesus upset the political, cultural, and religious systems so much that they wanted to kill Him. But He was the most mature man to ever live and is our ultimate role model for manhood.
GodBuddy Focus
Whether you are religious or not, a mature man has a well-thought-out worldview that becomes the loudest voice in his life. It influences his sense of purpose, guides his decision-making, helps him cope with struggles, and strengthens his relationships. Most importantly, it steers how he uses his masculine traits for good.
When a mature man has a worldview based on becoming more like Jesus, he becomes a godly man who has a great influence on other guys and how they use their masculinity for good.
For discussion:
- What is your view of the four components of the worldview (Origin, Meaning, Morality, and Destiny)?
- Who or what helped shape your worldview?
- Is there a part of your legacy that needs more attention? (i.e. understanding your destiny, having proper insurance and funeral arrangements).
Feel free to comment below and forward this post to someone else. Then watch for my next post in two weeks.
[Feature Photo by Mitch Gaiser on Unsplash]
