Willis Harman on Living Our Values in a Chaotic World

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"I'll be encouraging you to question our concept of science, to question our concept of the economy, to question our concept of world capitalism, and a lot of other things that we buy into."

In this presentation, Willis emphasizes the importance of awareness, and of working for both personal and cultural transformation. Just as negative personal beliefs can undermine us on an unconscious level, so too can invalid collective assumptions. It is not just counter-productive but ultimately dangerous to ignore their insidious impact.

Examining and changing social beliefs is particularly challenging because they are reinforced by the people and institutions around us, and serve as the unquestioned foundation of our worldview. But Harman argues such change can – and must – be initiated: by questioning assumptions and establishing essential human values as the guideposts for societal structure and function.

The western scientific model is the culprit behind much of our reluctance to embrace consciousness and spirituality when establishing social priorities. We may sense that our reality spans a continuum (from material to mental to spiritual) and that causality can move both upward and downward (e.g., from deep unconsciousness choice, human decision, or divine grace). Yet we have bought into the ontology of science that limits reality to its physical, measurable realm, and causality to only its upward direction from electrons and quarks. In so doing we negate our wholeness and our role in the creation of reality, and disempower ourselves in the process.

Harman warns how the unexamined belief systems underlying our economic and social institutions – particularly the unquestioned perception that ever-increasing production and consumption are somehow good for mankind – violate our true values and spell inevitable disaster for both the environment and civilization.