Worldview Other Resources

Core Readings

• Rifkin, Jeremy (1980) "World Views" and "The Architects of the Mechanical World View" pp. 5-9, 19-29 Link 15pp. 25 min

Rifkin is a social and economic theorist and activist, and a prolific author of two dozen books, some of which have been award-winning best-sellers. He defines world-view as a universal characteristic of human societies, discusses what he deems important elements of a current globally hegemonic world-view, traces their roots to writings of a handful of Western European thinkers, and asserts that an emergent world-view is in the process of upending the old.

• Tart, Charles. (2001). "Consensus Trance." Waking Up. pp. 85–106. Link 22pp. 35 min

Tart, a psychologist, describes the process of enculturation and cultural maintenance as analogous to that of hypnotic induction, and encourages readers to escape bounds on thought and action imposed by accident of birth to become more consciously constructed selves.

• Edwards, David. (1999). "The Limits of the Possible." Burning All Illusions. pp. 1-3. Link 3pp. 5 min

Edwards, a journalist, asserts that the illusion of freedom is an impediment to freedom. He warns us that chains of our era, more subtle than of those prior, are of equal or greater strength, and urges us to question within and without so that we may loosen or break them.

• Questions of Worldview Summary Link <100 words 5 min (Think about these questions. Maybe learn a bit of vocabulary.)

I've digested and summarized a few central ideas of Belgian philosopher Leo Apostel to provide a starting point for examining and for reconstructing world-view.

• Edwards, David. (2006). "Dangerous Minds." Atlantic Free Press. Link 7 pp. 15 min

Edwards argues that we shape society with pursuit of profit and power. He asserts that we structure education to strip away freedom and make us willing slaves. He encourages us to see this and break free.

Interest Readings

• Gardner, Howard. (2006). "The Power of Early Theories." Changing Minds. 49-69. Link 21pp. 35 min

Gardner describes how we use genetic and experiential information to shape a world-view early in life, and how this becomes an enduring basis for thought and action. He also describes levels of attachment, degrees of dispersal or sharing, sources, and techniques for altering ideas.

• Riversong, Robert. "Propaganda, the Collective Unconscious, and Mass Movements."Link

Reversong writes of Edward Bernays, quoting extensively from his thoughts about manipulating the masses. He ties Bernays' ideas to Jung's notions of collective unconscious, to Eric Hoffer's philosophical musings, to Ronald Reagan's presidency, and to contemporary "astro-turf" escapades funded by right-wing corporate owners.

• Parry, Robert. (2014, March 14). "The Danger of False Narrative." Consortium News. Link 9pp. 15 min

Parry discusses how media personnel have slanted information about Ukrainian-Russian relations, with reference to prior slanting of information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

• Levitt, Steven D. (2005). "The Hidden Side of Everything," Freakonomics. 2-19. Link 13pp. 20 min

Levitt affords us insight to common misperceptions about human behavior by using valuescience to investigate them.

• Rheingold, Howard. "Charley Tart on Consensus Trance." Link 5 pp 10 min

Last three paragraphs are Tart's ideas about religion, values, altered states, and cultivated awareness/compassion.

• Project Worldview. (2013). Link.

Exercise to characterize one's own or others' worldviews by selecting applicable descriptors from a menu.