Well, let’s change direction slightly and consider the extent to which the Mindset of the Spirit could be related to a world-view. We have considered a couple of features of the Spiritual Mindset based on the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit portrayed in the Gospel accounts. However, if having the mindset of the Spirit is going to be the way of living in general and ministering in particular, then it will have to function like a world-view. That is, the mindset of the Spirit will have some bearing on things like what we consider to be ultimate reality, the nature of the world around us or what is a human being (following Sire’s first three elements - Naming the Elephant, IVP, 2004).

To keep things simple, we’ll begin with a list of the seven elements that Sire suggests that every world-view has to give us some context in which to discuss the mindset of the Spirit. According to Sire, any world-view has an answer to the following seven questions:

1. 1.What is prime reality - the really real?
   

2. 2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
   

3. 3. What is a human being?
   

4. 4.What happens to persons at death?
   

5. 5.Why is it possible to know anything at all?
   

6. 6.How do we know what is right and wrong?
   

7. 7.What is the meaning of human history?
   

The Mindset of the Spirit, as I mentioned in previous posts, is characterized by prayer - calling on God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, in answer to the first question, the prime reality is the God and Father of our Lord Christ Jesus. Our heavenly Father is what is really real insofar as anything else that is real is dependent upon Him for its reality and can only be said to be real in relationship to Him. We will need to say more about this especially since we need to be able to do so in a way that posits God the Father as ultimate reality without taking away firstly, the reality of God’s eternal and royal Son, the Lord Jesus and God’s Holy Spirit; and secondly the sense in which we can and should speak of the cosmos as being real distinctly from God without losing its dependence upon him.