A Holistic Worldview

Module 1 Holistic Worldview

“No matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world. Different ways of interpreting the world are manifest through different cultures, which are often in opposition to one another. One of the problems with colonialism is that it tries to maintain a singular social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews.”

~Indigenous Blackfoot scholar Leroy Little Bear,
in “Jagged Worldviews Colliding”

We are living through a fundamental shift in the guiding worldviews of humanity. In this module, we will explore holistic worldviews in science, philosophy, history and the social movements and initiatives that are working towards a more just and sustainable world. The term “holism” was coined by South African philosopher and statesman Jan Christian Smuts in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution. He defines holism as the tendency in nature to form wholes that are greater than the sum of the parts through creative evolution. Smuts was among the first thinkers to point out “that the biosphere consists of nothing but wholes that are both partly autonomous and partly dependent upon or subsidiary to greater wholes.” Scottish biologist and sociologist Patrick Geddes called holism “a serious contribution towards the upbuilding of a new constructive worldview.” In the 1931 book Life: Outlines of a General Biology, Geddes wrote: “In the last resort a civilization depends on its general ideas” (Thomson & Geddes, 1931, p.1114). Both Smuts and Geddes understood the importance of worldviews in informing and guiding humanity’s survival, but holistic thinking has rarely found a place within the dominant worldview of Western modernity.

In the late 1990s, Hungarian-British author Arthur Koestler tried to find new languages to describe the dualistic, mutually exclusive thinking of “whole” and “part.” Koestler drew attention to the fact that within the whole (contains everything), many wholes are being simultaneously parts of larger wholes. Koestler called this property of parts (being both wholes and parts) the “Janus Effect,” which was named after the ancient Roman deity Janus, whose two faces looked in opposite directions. According to him, the Janus Effect is a fundamental characteristic of all sub-wholes in all types of hierarchies, and he argued that “there is no satisfactory word in our vocabulary to refer to these Janus-faced entities” since sub-whole, sub-structure and sub-system did not properly indicate the relationship of simultaneous independence and interdependence. Koestler introduced the Janus Effect to describe how every “sub-whole” (holon) is simultaneously relatively autonomous and dependent on larger wholes, a structural feature he saw as universal in hierarchies. This idea helps reconcile atomistic and holistic approaches by framing entities as “holons” rather than isolated parts or indivisible wholes, a move that supports holistic thinking among Western thinkers at the time.

Similarly, Austrian biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, the founder of General Systems Theory (GST), developed a holistic framework to understand living organisms and complex systems as organized wholes rather than mere aggregates of parts. In General System Theory (1968), he argued that reductionist science, which focused on isolating and analyzing individual components, fails to account for the dynamic interactions that give rise to emergent properties. According to Bertalanffy, systems exhibit behaviours and characteristics that cannot be predicted or explained solely by studying their elements in isolation. This insight positioned holism not as a vague philosophical stance but as a scientifically grounded principle, emphasizing that the organization and relationships within a system are as crucial as the parts themselves in determining its behaviour and evolution.

Canadian mathematician and biologist Brian Goodwin pointed out how a reductionist view of nature fails to explain complex features: “The new biology of complexity and emergent properties shows just how limited and aberrant is a reductionist view of life, and how inappropriate is a relationship to nature based on control and manipulation.” Goodwin was one of the key academic advocates in creating the first Master’s in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. You can find out about his contribution in holistic science in this 10-minute video produced by Dartington Trust:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS19etwrXBE&t=23s

Echoing Goodwin, American physicist Arthur Zajonc also called for expanding the Western-oriented foundation of inquiry and developing a holistic epistemology “to include on the one hand a reinterpreted conventional science, but also open enough to include a science of qualities and beyond the science of qualities to a science of spirit—a science of the contemplative.” Ecological and spiritual activistSatish Kumar, who co-founded the Schumacher College, suggested that “unless we are able to heal the rift between science and spirituality, and develop a holistic perspective of life, peace will remain a distant dream” (Kumar, 2002).

As Indigenous Blackfoot scholar Leroy Little Bear once said in a public talk on climate change, “What we’ve done in the Western world is we’ve taken ourselves out of the circle rather than being part of it.” (source:https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/leroy-little-bear-climate-change) It is time for us to relearn from the wisdom and ways of knowing from the diverse worldviews of different traditional cultures and Indigenous knowledges, respectfully integrating these perspectives in ways that can help us redesign our ways of being on Earth with each other and with all living beings at a planetary scale.

As feminist Gloria E. Anzaldúa reminds us, “A massive uprooting of dualistic thinking in the individual and collective consciousness is the beginning of a long struggle.” Paying attention to what worldview informs our perspective, influences our decisions, and guides our goals and actions is important to develop self-reflection and self-awareness collectively, opening up the potential for responsible participation in our co-existence on Earth. As we begin the Worldview Dimension, we invite you on a journey to revisit the worldviews that have been shaping your ways of seeing, your values and your participation in the world.

Watch this 21-minute public lecture by Leroy Little Bear on Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJSJ28eEUjI&t=11s

Module 1 Bring it to Life 1

Consider your current story about the world, and the possibility to create new stories.

Form a group of three people with friends, family or Worldview participants.

Use the following fill-in-the-blanks sentences to tell the story of your existing worldview. Then, as a group, consider making up a new story by deciding together how to fill in the blanks using these same sentences:

_________ created the world.

Humans are on Earth because ___________.

Our purpose in being here is to__________.

If we succeed, _____________ happen.

If we fail, ____________ happen.

The good and bad things that happen on Earth are the consequence(s) of _________.

It is important for us to ________ Nature.

It is important for us to ________ one another.

It is important for us to ________ the force that created the world.

Share the stories and your experiences in the open forum.