Pillars of a coherent worldview

We all subscribe to some type of worldview through which we try to interpret reality. Our worldview helps us to navigate through our world. We can compare our worldview to a roof: a roof must always be supported by walls, otherwise the roof will collapse because it cannot stand on its own. So a good roof is one that is supported by several pillars.

Here are some of the “pillars” that support worldviews that are coherent with reality. These are all fundamental facts or self-evident truths. Anyone denying these pillars is deliberately building a worldview incoherent with reality.

1.      Existence of absolutes.

The claim is not that we human beings know all absolutes; rather, the claim is that absolutes DO exist. A “crooked line” doesn’t make any sense in the absence of the existence of such a concept as a “straight line”. In a recent discussion with a friend of mine who doesn’t believe in the existence of absolutes, he made the following statement: “There is only one absolute, which is that there are no absolutes.” Notice that in order for him to make any sense of what he wants to believe (that there are no absolutes), he had to borrow this very pillar (that there are absolutes). 

2.      Existence of objective moral values.

The claim is not that all moral values are objective, but rather that there are certain objective moral values such as ‘hurting or killing a human being for your own convenience is wrong,’ ‘subjugating another human being is vile,’ ‘sex outside of marriage is wrong,’ etc.. It is fascinating to watch many atheists who deny this premise in theory lash out against the existence of evil in the world. People who deny this pillar are in a logical dilemma. If they truly believe that there are no objective moral laws, then they cannot justifiably respond with outrage when an evil event takes place (for example, men raping young girls in India). If they respond by saying that such acts are horrible and something needs to be done, then their actions are inconsistent with their beliefs! This became very clear in one of my discussions with an atheist friend a couple of years ago, who denied the existence of objective moral laws. He brought up slavery as an example of morality changing over time. He argued that slavery was condoned in the Old Testament but that in modern times it is rejected. To clarify what he meant by slavery, I asked him whether he mean slavery like what we had in the United States around 1800. His response was startling, as he said: “One human being subjugating another human being is vile, regardless of the time frame.” As you can see here, he destroyed his own “assertion” by stating what he knew to be true from his heart (self-evident truth).

3.      We can know certain things to be true.

The claim is not that we know the truth about everything; rather, we know certain things to be true. For example, I know for sure that I can write a sentence in English, that protons and electrons exist, that I live in the USA, etc.. I have seen many of my friends reject this pillar in theory, but the truth is that everyone lives by this pillar. The friend who told me (of course on Facebook) that there is no way to be sure that he lives in Round Rock, TX will, when he orders something on Amazon, fill in his shipping address as Round Rock, TX. In such a situation, if he didn’t know his living location to be true, he’d never be able to get his packages!

4.      Matter is real, not an illusion.

This is a fundamental fact. In a recent discussion, a friend of mine gave me an illustration to show that matter is just an illusion. He told me about how if you put a spoon in a jar of water, the spoon appears to be “bent,” whereas it is not actually bent in reality. The point he was trying to make was that everything we see with our eyes is not real, but actually just an illusion. Notice that in the illustration he used to “prove” his point, that matter is not real, he had to depend on a ‘spoon’ and ‘water,’ which are comprised of matter! Matter doesn’t change rather our perception of it does.

5.      Existence of natural laws, such as the Law of Non-contradiction and the Law of Causality.

We live by these laws every day. These laws allow us to sort through basic truths. The Law of Non-contradiction states that contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense; for example, “A is not B” and “A is B” cannot both be true at the same time. The Law of Causality states that everything that begins must have a cause.

6.      Limitation of science when dealing with immaterial realms.

Science is a great tool that explains the workings of the material realm, but it is helpless when dealing with the immaterial realm such as morality. For example, science can explain how an atom bomb is made and operated, but it cannot tell us whether or not it is right for us to drop the bomb on a country.

7.     Human beings have intrinsic worth.

This is what makes human beings separate from other beings such as animals. I haven’t encountered anyone who denied this pillar yet.

8.     Human beings are moral beings.

This is another fact that differentiate human beings from animals. Rape, murder and violence happen among animals in jungles and forests every day, yet we do not see people going to the forests to protest against the ‘evil’ done by these animals. We never see a lion having a guilty conscience about killing a zebra for its lunch! I have friends who believe that animals also have intrinsic worth, but I have not seen any of them protesting in front of the jungles.

9.     Human beings have libertarian free will.

Libertarian free will is the freedom to act contrary to one's nature, predisposition and greatest desires. Responsibility, in this view, always means that one could have done otherwise. If this is not true, then we could never hold people morally accountable for their immoral actions. Nor we cannot praise people for the virtues they have accomplished.

Ideologies have consequences. When choosing a worldview that denies any of these fundamental realities, we are deliberately accepting its consequences. At the end of the day, I, and no one else, am to be blamed for choosing a worldview that is not coherent with reality. These nine facts I listed above have nothing to do with a particular religion or faith. These are self-evident truths that can be used as premises for logical arguments for or against the existence of God.

I am writing this in love to encourage all of us to examine the worldviews to which we are subscribing. If my worldview is supported by these fundamental facts, then I have a worldview that is coherent with reality. If not, then my worldview is not coherent with reality, and I will never be able to live by it in this world without running into significant contradictions between my life and beliefs.