Self-diagnostic: How distorted is my worldview?

Direction: You will find below some fundamental, either/or descriptions under each of five categories. If your answer (judgment,evaluation) verges more to the first of the two given alternatives, your score is either 5 or 4. If your answer tends to be more the second alternative, You score either 2 or 1. Obviously, if it between the two ideas, you score 3.

Don’t mark or base your judgment on what SHOULD, WOULD, or COULD you think, but in every case, on what you actually DO think. Be honest (otherwise, you have no one to fool but yourself).


Who am I?

Good/Bad
Compassionate/Unfeeling
Generous/Selfish
Responsible/Undependable
Hardworking/Lazy
Capable of personal decisions/Indecisive
Authentic/Phoney
Involved in social concerns/Naïve
Interested in others/Only in self
Loyal/Disloyal
Gifted/Ungifted
Superior to most others/Inferior
Intelligent/Unintelligent
Great in Potential/Little potential
In Control of life/Out of control
Good-looking/Ugly
Lovable/Unlovable
Many pleasing mannerisms/Few
Grateful/Ungrateful
Emotionally warm/Cold
Deep/Superficial
Interesting/Boring
Active/Passive
Consistent/Inconsistent
Independent/Overly dependent
Important to others/Unimportant
Needed/not needed
Loved by many/Loved by few
Supported by many/supported by few
My love is wanted by many/by few
Valued highly by many/by few
Valued for self/Valued by what I could give
Add much to the group gatherings/Add little
Give much joy to others/Give little
Cooperative/Uncooperative


Who are other people?

Essentially good/Bad
Peaceful/Hostile
Trustworthy/Suspicious
Ready to help me/Disinterested in me
Loving/Selfish
Generous/Greedy
Concerned about others/only about themeselves
Honest/Dishonest
Compassionate/unfeeling
Loyal/disloyal
Grateful/Ungrateful
Similar to me/Unlike me
Responsible/Undependable
Emotionally warm/cold
Lovable/unlovable
cooperative/uncooperative
Collaborators/competitors
Balanced/Unbalanced
Hurting and needy/In no pain and no need
Authentic/Phoney


What is life?

A pleasant experience/A struggle
Important/Doesn’t really matter
Beautiful/Ugly
An adventure/An endurance contest
An education/A disillusionment
Satisfying/Dissatisfying
Meaningful/Meaningless
Challenging/defeating
Too short/Too long
Exciting/Boring
A time for growing/for surviving
Perpetually changing and new/Sadly repetitious
A time for giving/A time for getting
I wouldn’t miss it for anything/sorry I got into it
Money is relatively important/almost everything
Tomorrows are eagerly awaited/dreaded
Time is valuable/worthless
Old age is mellow time/ a sad time
Suffering can be a time of growth/an evil to be avoided
Death is a beginning/tragedy


What is the physical world?

Nature is beautiful/unimpressive
The physical world is important/unimportant
The physical world is fascinating/dull
I have great interest in geography-geology/no interest
Animal pets are very enjoyable/a nuisance
I enjoy gardens immensely/never notice them
I have much interest in nature-related hobbies/no interest
Solar system is mind-staggering/is irrelevant to me
Archaelology excites great curiosity/means nothing to me
Certain natural scenes are special to me/have no significance
Ecology is a great concern/excites no interest
The animal kingdom is interesting/irrelevant
Stars are breathtaking/rarely notice them
Nature walks are delightful/silly and boring
Seasons are beautiful/Bothersome


Who is God?

A father-mother/A tyrant taskmaster
Unconditionally loving/Conditionally loving
forgiving/Angry and unrelenting
Interested in me/Not at all interested
Near and close/Distant and detached
Reassuring/Frightening
Comforting/Upsetting
Warm/Cold
Understanding/Intolerant
Affirming/Threatening


Scoring yourself: A very high score on both ends (high 5s and high 1s) indicates an amount of distortion in your worldview. If you are honest, your score should reveal your misconceptions about yourself, other people, life, God, and the world. Collectively, they should point to a distorted personal vision of the world. Hopefully, they also prompt you work at correcting that vision.

Source: John Powell's Fully Human, Fully Alive