You Are the World
LAN 102 Critical Thinking Essay
Abstract
This essay considers three dimensions of “world”—material, spiritual, and life‑world—and argues that the self (“you”) actively constructs and navigates among them, transforming interactions with others into a coherent life‑world.
Excerpts
World, as a common word people use in a variety of scenarios, has different meanings in several dimensions. However, people usually would not be aware of the process of selecting a particular prospective of interpreting this word. In a broad sense, the “world” refers to the Earth, on which planet we human beings are living and counted as an element of the world consisting of materials…
Material world
“The desire for seeking materials to survive is exactly what acts as the basis and prerequisite but not the limitation for a person living in the world.”
Spiritual world
“Consciousness endows an individual the capability of being aware of his unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environment, constructing the skeleton of the second dimension of the world.”
Life-world
“In this third dimension, independent spiritual worlds interact and reshape each other, as the self selects, evaluates, and builds relationships with the others.”