Embracing the Organic Worldview

Our purpose here is to discuss and explore a worldview that embraces the totality of our universe: the natural world, our society, our history, and ourselves. By doing so, we aim to better understand ourselves, our history, our society, the world around us, and the purpose of the universe. Our goal is to know what it means to be empowered individuals and to create empowered communities through self-knowledge—knowledge of our reality. To understand the organic self and the interconnectedness of the universe is to become an empowered individual, and the action of an empowered individual is to live and thrive in an organic community.

The word "organic" here refers to something natural, alive, and being. It means that which grows from the universe and makes up the universe itself, that which constitutes an organism, and ultimately, the universal organism. The universe is itself an organic being, and thus anything that is part of the universe is part of that organic being, which encompasses everything.

The organic worldview is the primordial worldview, the traditional view of reality that has always formed the basis of human understanding until the advent of the Judeo-Christian worldview. This perspective was shared by all cultures of the past. For instance, the ancient Greeks, including philosophers like Plato, viewed the world through an organic lens.

As the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes: “In his introduction to Plato’s works, Cairns (1961) points out that the Greek view, as far back as we have records, is that the world is orderly and alive. From this perspective, the failure to appreciate Plato’s organicism is part and parcel of a failure to appreciate Greek organicism more generally. For example, whereas modern scholars view the Milesians as forerunners of modern materialism (Jeans, 1958), the Milesians held that matter is alive (Cornford, 1965; Robin, 1996). Similarly, Anaximenes did not hold that air is the basis of all things in the same sense, or for the same reasons, that a modern materialist might hold such a view. He views air as breath and sees air as the basis of all things because he sees the world as a living thing and therefore 'wants it to breathe' (Robin, 1996; Cornford, 1966). Pythagoras too, who exerted great influence on Plato, saw the world as a living breathing being (Robinson, 1968). Cornford (1966) notes that Plato’s description in the Timaeus of his world animal as a 'well-rounded sphere' has been seen by some scholars as the best commentary on Parmenides’ comparison of his One Being to a perfect sphere (raising the possibility of a Parmenidean organicism). Finally, by stressing that fire is the basis of all things, Heraclitus did not mean that fire is the material out of which all things are made. His fire is an 'ever-living' fire (Burnet, 1971). Similar points could be made about other pre-Socratic philosophers. The Greek tendency to view the world as a living thing is rooted in the fact that the early Greek notion of nature, physis, was closer in meaning to life than to matter (Cornford, 1965). This is why, as far back as Hesiod, procreation plays such a prominent role in Greek creation stories, as it does in the Timaeus (Section 2c.). From this perspective, it is not surprising that Plato develops an organicist cosmology. It would be surprising if he did not have one.”

Philosophy, traditionally understood as the study of wisdom, is fundamentally the study of the Self. We can only experience the world around us through the self, and therefore any real knowledge is self-knowledge. To become empowered, we must become wise, and to become wise, we must study the self and the experiences of the self. However, this study of self is not limited to our own individual experiences, just as we ourselves are not limited to our own separate individual existences. Rather, we each form a part of an organic whole that includes the present, but also encompasses the past and the future.

History is not composed of “other events” that happened to “other people”; rather, it is our own heritage and even our own experience. It is what has happened to us in the past and is always with us. The self and the universe are not two separate entities. To know the organic self is to know the universe, and to know the universe is to know the organic self; this is the whole being, the universal organism. This philosophy of self-knowledge and organic awareness is the organic worldview. It leads to empowered individuals and, in turn, to real, supportive communities.

By embracing this organic worldview, we can reconnect with the natural, living essence of the universe and foster a deeper understanding of our place within it. This holistic approach allows us to cultivate a sense of belonging and purpose, ultimately leading to more meaningful and enriched lives. In doing so, we not only empower ourselves but also contribute to the creation of vibrant, resilient communities that reflect the interconnectedness and harmony of the natural world.