Quotable, Part I

I'm currently reading The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog by James W. Sire. Here are some passages from chapter 1 that I marked with my pencil:

"So what is a worldview? Essentially this:

"A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being." (p. 17)

"There is, of course, a way things are, but we are often mistaken about the way things are." (p. 19)

"It is important to note that our own worldview may not be what we think it is. It is rather what we show it to be by our words and actions. Our worldview generally lies so deeply embedded in our subconscious that unless we have reflected long and hard, we are unaware of what it is. Even when we think we know what it is and lay it out clearly in neat propositions and clear stories, we way well be wrong. Our very actions may belie our self-understandings." (p. 19)

"So long as we live, we will live either the examined or the unexamined life. It is the assumption of this book that the examined life is better." (p. 21)