Modernism is based on materialism, positivism, quantification, utilitarianism, and reductionism. Its goal is progress through technology, control, and manipulation, and its mechanistic underpinnings lead to a disenchantment of nature. There is no place for the sacred or the mysterious. Modernism and its mechanistic, technological project is at the root of the desacralization of the modern world. Postmodernism is a sharp contrast to this description of modernism.
Deconstructive postmodernism seeks to undo all claims toward ultimate knowledge and truth.
All worldviews, it contends, are constructed through social interactions, usually by power groups to maintain their positions. Deconstructive postmodernism is deeply critical of all religious and spiritual traditions. Reconstructive postmodernism, on the other hand, is optimistic, creative, and forward-looking. Consciousness is primary, and the world is alive with meaning, magic, and mystery. Such a postmodern psychology is relational, holistic, and non-dualistic.