Today in Freshman Seminar we had a discussion about worldview. One of the ideas was that the most prominent worldview a long time ago was that God was elevated above us, but has, over time, changed to a point where there is only humans. God is non-existent and all people have to worry about is themselves according to most people’s worldview today. Apparently things were pretty close to the same in Leo Tolstoy’s day.
In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy shows people’s true sides from the very beginning. The very first thing that happens is that Peter Ivanovich walks in and states that Ivan Ilyich is dead. Immediately after, we see that all people are concerned with is themselves. We are told that all Ivan’s “colleagues” only thought about being promoted. Not too far after this, people start asking how much stuff Ivan had and stating that at least he died and not them.
All of these things point to an idea that we are the only important thing in life. Christians, however, need to be totally different from this. We should be focused on making God the most important thing.
P.S. I posted on “Unrealistic Materialist People” by His Beloved...
I do not know if this same sort of scenario is consistent with the one above, but with recent things going on in my family, I keep picturing my family fighting over my great grandmother's belongings and while she is on her death bed, she has not yet passed on. It seems like what you are saying about a self centered worldview still exists today. There's not even a thought of grief of what they are losing, or have lost, but a greed for what they can gain from the situation....
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