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"The new concepts in physics have brought about a profound change in our world view; from the mechanistic conception of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and ecological view, a view which I have found to be similar to the views of mystics of all ages and traditions.
The new view of the physical universe was by no means easy for scientists at the beginning of the century to accept. The exploration of the atomic and subatomic world brought them in contact with a strange and unexpected reality that seemed to defy any coherent description. In their struggle to grasp this new reality, scientists became painfully aware that their basic concepts, their language, and their whole way of thinking were inadequate to describe atomic phenomena. Their problems were not merely intellectual but amounted to an intense emotional and, one could say, even existential crisis. It took them a long time to overcome this crisis, but in the end they were rewarded with deep insights into the nature of matter and its relation to the human mind."
–Dr. Fritjov Capra, "The Turning Point"
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In terms of the ways we are taught to think and the kind of thinking that is appreciated and rewarded,
our present dominant world-views are:
Rational
Analytical
Linear
Reductionist
Instead of only focusing on rational thinking, Capra suggests we also include the intuitive type of comprehension as well. Instead of purely analyzing, he suggests that we learn to synthesize disparate information as well. Linear thinking (which also always brings us to the few at the top of the pyramid, once we follow the line) changes to lateral and non-linear points of view, encouraging us to allow for a broader perspective, one that may not have an immediate goal in sight. And reductionist beliefs and ideas no longer seem useful when we pay attention to the process and the pieces that we have eliminated in order to focus on the particulars.
Capra, at the edge of the new science during our own time, sounds like he's going back to an almost ancient paradigm, when human beings connected with their surroundings, used their intuitions more and didn't see themselves as a series of controllable "parts". But perhaps what Capra is really doing is coming full circle to a more durable model of reality. Descartes after all, pulled everything apart to see how it worked. Capra is encouraging us to put the pieces back together again, now that we know so much more about them! We don't need to denounce Descartes; we need to incorporate his ideas when they can apply to a broader notion of our world as it is unfolding now. Small understandings are integral to a larger view, and now that quantum mechanics offers us a new perspective, we must step back to see it.
In terms of our value systems, our present dominant paradigms are:
Competition
Expansion
Domination
Quantity
Instead of measuring everything through what we call "healthy" competition, Capra suggest co-operation instead. He maintains that conservation rather than irresponsible expansion needs to be considered (our familiarity with this comes mainly through the work of ecologists, but we can see it as a metaphor for the consumption of goods and services as well). Domination, a fundamental human model that has great psychological impact as well, needs to be weakened by partnership, in Capra's view. We have already seen the danger of an unquestioned domination of government, religion and even science. Finally, instead of "how many"...the idea of quantity would be less important in this new paradigm, and quality would supplant amount.
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