In his book Daly works repeatedly with Schumpeter's concept of the pre-analytic vision. This concept is closely related to the more current and rather overworked concept of paradigms which was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in his book on the theory of scientific revolutions. A paradigm or pre-analytic vision relates to the implicit worldview from which reality is observed. However, the world and events around us, when observed from a point of view of radical empiricism, reveal different causal relationships. These relationships depend on will, purpose and meaning, often operating beyond the confines of linear time and three-dimensional space.
Traditional cultures operate to a great extent in such other dimensions of meaning and causation.
The evidence from ancient civilisations also bears witness to totally different worldviews in which man communed directly with the gods. Monuments such as those of the Sphynx and the pyramids of ancient Egypt indicate not only a different worldview but also technological feats probably beyond those which modern man can achieve. It may be that a shift in consciousness can result in major shifts in apparent external reality. This in no way implies that a shift towards alternative futures would be a comfortable one in which all and everything would yet be saved through some miraculous process of divine intervention. These opened up manifold opportunities in which Nature brought forth dazzling feats of creativity.