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The worldview or belief-conceptual
dimension of culture is a structure of ideas, sometimes contradictory,
that people have about the nature of the universe, the world around them,
their role in it, cause and effect, and the nature of time, matter, and
behaviour.
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| This dimension is sometimes
thought to be the religion of the people. |
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| It is a wider category, and also
includes atheistic beliefs, for example, that man created God in his own
image. |
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| It includes shared beliefs in how
this universe came to be, how it operates, and what is reality. |
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| When you drop a pencil
onto the floor and expect it to go in the down direction, you demonstrate
your belief in gravity. |
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| When you say the sun comes up in
the morning (it does not; the earth turns), you express a world view from
the past. |
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| If you, the researcher or mobiliser,
are seen to be some one who is attacking the beliefs of the people, you
will find your work hindered, opposition to you and your goals, and failure. |
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| Whether or not you want to oppose
local beliefs, you must be seen as respecting and to be not wanting to
change them. |
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| In the broad sweep of human existence,
the general trend of change has been for a decrease in the number of deities,
and a reduction from sacred-profane differences in time and space to secular
time and space. |
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| From local polytheism with many gods,
humans moved to a polytheism with fewer gods, from that humans moved to
monotheism (one god) and from there an increase in the proportion of people
who believe in no god. |
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| In humankind experience, it appears
that those groups with local traditional gods tend to be more tolerant
of other gods than are the so-called "universal" religions which each say
they alone have the true answer. |
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| Huge wars have been fought over religions
(an irony in that most religions call for peace and tolerance), and this
should be a warning to the researcher or mobiliser about the extent to
which people fervently hold their beliefs. |
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| The researcher or mobiliser must
learn, study and be aware of what the prevailing beliefs are in the community. |
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| To be an effective catalyst of social
change, the animator must make suggestions and promote actions which do
not offend those prevailing beliefs, and which are consistent with, or
at least appropriate to, existing beliefs and concepts of how the universe
works. |
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