Weltanschauung

It means world view, and can be on an individual or group basis, as the Weltanschauung of a nation. My favorite word in the German language. That is of course to say, my favorite of the words I know in the German language. A cooler word may exist, but I sure don't know it. 
                                                  So, okay, world view. What the hell does that mean anyway? Well I would figure basically what kind of place you perceive it to be, based on all the factors that make up the quality of your life: physical, social, economic. And also what kind of people inhabit this place? Is there a fundamental nature(i.e. basically good, basically evil)or is it a more random process? 

I gotta say, my own view of the world, my own Weltanschauung, is changing, the more I read. The Atlas was a present from my brother, which I've had for awhile and am just now getting into. 

Despite all the political changes in the world, there's something "timeless" about a World Atlas. Like any reference book--a Dictionary or Encyclopedia--there's no starting or stopping point as such. Everything leads you to or from something else. And that's the beauty of it. The "timelessness" of it.

Still, the first thing you're impressed with are all those changes. For instance, I was born in 1954. At that time we only had 48 States(Alaska and Hawaii would be added in 5 years later). The Republic of the Congo was still Zaire, Tanzania was still Tanganyika(God knows why, but I remembered that name as a kid!), Yugoslavia was still there, and we didn't have the 5 "stan" countries: Kazahkstan, Turkmenistan, Krgystan, Uzbekistan and Tahjikistan. 

And that's just in the last 59 years! Here's a picture of the world as it was in about the time of King Charlemagne(830AD): 

Quite a different place, eh? And if you went backwards(or forward)800 years, it would once again be a completely different playing field.

As well as the changes in our world, another thing I'm getting from this Atlas is the time-lines of the various countries: not only their dates, but who was occupying them- sometimes a long succession of ownerships. There are some countries in the world that have never been self-governing. Someone else has always run their show. They wouldn't know what to do with Democracy if they had it. 

And with these time-lines, it's helped me understand the enmities between certain nations. Like Korea and Japan. 

Finally, you start realizing that human nature- good and bad- doesn't seem to change with the times. The same chicaneries, the same power-plays, the same jockeying for position happened in the 1200s as in the 21st century.  Hard not to be cynical sometimes, as far as that goes. 

I dunno. The world still seems to me a wondrous place, full of things to see and hear and taste and feel. It's not and never will be the best of all possible worlds, so long as you have us flawed human beings in there to fuck it up. But it's the only one we have to work with. 

My Atlas continues to help me learn more about our world- and enhance my view of it. My(for the last time here)Weltanschauung.