When Our World View Changes How Do We Safely Navigate To The New Truth

What happens when our world view changes?

This really depends on the impact of the change itself. It might be a totally private influence that nobody notices through to a major life shift that affects everyone in your sphere of influence and even beyond to the wider community, county, or country. There can be a mass response such as has occurred with the current pandemic, where everyone has been affected.

The responses to COVID-19 are many and varied. Because this was a new human virus, people wanted to be able to do something. In the vacuum of facts, a wide range of conspiracy theories were born with some ending with the death of believers.

How does an altered world view affect the truth, or does it just change “your truth”?  

For example, if I became convinced that the Earth is flat, that would then become my truth, but this new perception of mine doesn’t change the shape of the Earth.

If the change only affects my truth then what’s the difference between truth, facts and beliefs?

Facts are undeniable statements of actual existence or occurrence. Facts can be proven and are generally repeatable in the future. They do not change along with your perspective.

Fact: Rivers flow downhill on Earth.

Fact: Oxygen is essential for combustion to occur.

All facts are true but not all that is true can be supported with facts. This how we get confused between facts and truth because the meaning of the word “true” has a continuum from the factual through to holding true to our beliefs.

Beliefs are personal perspectives or opinions, even habits of mind that are believed to be true. They can be shared with others and are often strongly held with a high degree of trust or confidence. These common beliefs may be the founding principles of groups or even bigger communities, but this does not make them factual.

How does our new truth impact our relationship with those around us, our friends, family, or fellow members of our community?

There will be a continuum from a wonderfully positive impact and relationship strengthening to a permanent relationship breakdown and painful loss.

The challenge today is that information sharing and spreading is so rapid and pervasive that there is no when “stop” or “undo” button. The rewards for sharing can be significant and process so easy, a click or touch, and even habituated, a click or touch, that they bypass offline measures such as asking: “Why?” or “Is that for real?”, and next step processes like: let me think about or I’ll dig a little deeper. If this interests you, you might like the book “Contagious” by Jonah Berger.

When our world view changes, how do we keep ourselves and those we care for safe?

With suppression of filtering or critical thinking, the risk of negative outcomes from major change increases. And when surrounded by a group that supports the new perspective our self perception can be as false as the anorexic's body dysmorphia.

Accepting our fundamental need and desire for human connection, our relationships are critical for happiness. Therefore, it’s important to consider how much you value each of the major relationships in your life and consider the needs and wants of those close to us before committing 100% to any new set of beliefs.

This assumes of course that you are aware of your changing perception. That it is conscious and not an insidious unobservable sequence of shifts which some people believe is happening through and because of our addicition to social media platforms.

Understanding our human behaviour is at the heart of keeping ourselves and those we love and care for safe.

It’s overly simplistic to believe our behaviour is driven primarily by punishment or reward. Although they can be effective motivators, they are both extrinsic, which is why the following statement from Edward L Deci and Richard Ryan might describe why it's inevitable our world view continually evolves. It is fundamental to living.

“Perhaps no single phenomenon reflects the positive potential of human nature as much as intrinsic motivation, the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise one’s capacities, to explore, and to learn.”