How could you like bratwurst?!?! Yuck!

Did you know that the noun worldview, having two primary definitions, in both senses is also called Weltanschauung? It’s true.

Let’s talk about your weltanschauung, and – No! - I do not want you to show it to me. Your weltanschauung is the overall perspective from which you see and interpret the world. Notice I am talking to you and not us, because I have my very own weltanschauung and – no - you cannot see it either. Mine is probably better anyway, because I’m actually married to a German guy. Okay, he’s never actually been to Germany, but he has a second cousin named Louisa that lives there.

Now before I am corrected all day by “commenters” (don’t I wish. Look, even if you just want to mention how your cat barfed up a hairball this morning, could you put it in my comments section??) groups can have weltanschauung, the second definition being a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. The Manson Family had a weltanschauung. So do Disney princesses.

Our collective and individual weltanschauungs are HUGE (please, please put yours away) because when they clash, the trouble begins. For some crazy reason, I think that you should share my weltanschauung, and you think I should embrace yours. Either that, or I initially assume we have the same one, but upon closer examination, I realize that yours has a mole on the starboard side.

Here’s the deal about Jesus. Besides healing people and growing His beard, His time on earth was really about weltanschauung. He was offering us a way to see the world that was radically different than any weltanschauung we could invent on our own. I mean, how nuts was it to say, “Love your enemies?” Jesus probably hasn’t heard of Al-Qaeda. Why didn’t He just say, “You’ll have no enemies and small animals from the forest will sing and dress you in the morning”? Once again, the god we want is confronted by the God who is.

When I set aside my weltanschauung and think for a second, it’s not such a bad idea. How would the world look different if you and I loved our enemies? If we refused to curse them and blessed them instead (even that neighbor who lets his dog poop in your yard)? What if you did that and Al-Qaeda did that and those two kids from Columbine and the people on Big Brother and Quebec and Terrell Owens and me, too?

Weltanschauung, sweet weltanschauung. Singing skunks aside.