Perhaps the most significant gift our parents give us is a general outlook on the world - a structure for how things all come together, a worldview, if you will, that serves as a foundation for the way we view everything else.

Marcus Borg likes to say that we generally inherit one of three paradigms. The first is the idea that the world is a scary and frightful place. Reality is hostile, death will get us, we must be about protecting what is ours and safeguarding all that is precious. How do we respond to life? Defensively. We are wary of new ideas and hold fast to the time-tested and familiar.

A second view is that the world is indifferent and without care to its surroundings. Life is random. There is no final purpose. All that we are and see are the results of evolutionary accidents. In this world we think mostly of ourselves, grab what is ours, live for the moment, fulfill our needs without undue care for that which is outside the immediate and the accessible, or what will happen to and for those who will come after us.

A third view, and the one I am most thankful to my parents for passing on to me, is that reality is gracious. All that surrounds us is potentially nurturing and life-giving. Wonder and beauty speak of a purpose to life and a deep meaning to reality. We can let go and jump into the fray because we know that we are held. We can seek adventure and take risks knowing that it will all somehow be OK. We can approach life like a survivalist who falls into quicksand: relaxing and letting the bog carry us, knowing that if we flail about gripped by fear, we will surely die.

Which paradigm do we lean towards?
Which paradigm do we want to lean towards?
Which paradigm are we passing along to our children?