Project Vision 21

A new study published in the prestigious journal Nature on May 1 indicates that, during the first half of sleep, the brain “reboots” neuronal connections apparently with the purpose of preparing for the future or, more specifically, to be ready for learn what needs to be learned in the near future.

The study, led by scientists Anya Suppermpool and Jason Rihel, from University College London, suggests that “remodeling” of the brain during sleep allows new connections to emerge between brain cells the next day. In other words, during sleep the “strong connections” that brain cells have when awake are “deactivated” or “relaxed” (so to speak).

In short, according to researchers, it seems that sleep prepares the brain to “generate new connections the next day” (quoting Dr. Suppermpool), that is, (I add), the brain prepares itself for the future. which is neither continuity of the past nor repetition of the present.

It is worth mentioning that the study did not include experiments or observations of human brains, but, according to the aforementioned scientists, it is possible that these same brain patterns during sleep will eventually be observed in humans.

Be that as it may, the idea that we sleep and dream to better connect with the future is a fascinating idea. And this in turn connects with myths since myths are shared dreams and dreams are personal myths. If we accept this correlation, perhaps, on a global level, we should “reset” our culture and our collective “brain” in order to learn and access a new future.

But, unfortunately, both on a personal and social level, we live in a world that practically does not give us time to even breathe, much less think and much less reflect or meditate (which, in short, is "dismantling" the petrified connections between our thoughts and emotions). Therefore, over and over again we repeat the same thing expecting different results... until we no longer expect anything.

We stay awake watching movies or videos “to distract ourselves” or “to be able to sleep better” and, in this way, “we train the brain precisely not to sleep, rest, or disconnect. We don't give the brain time to disconnect from the past to reconnect with the future. Therefore, the next day, even if it is a new day and the future has arrived, we remain the same as before.

In scientific terms (used in the aforementioned article), by sleeping poorly or not at all, we remove “synaptic plasticity” from the brain. In fact, each of the neurons loses that “plasticity” that, by having it, would allow it to display new ways of understanding reality.

Perhaps the ancients knew something or, better yet, lived off of all this. After all, for them, dreaming, sleeping, having visions, and sharing myths (in the truest sense of the word) were practically a single activity, an activity focused on the future.

Paradoxically, perhaps we need to reconnect with that past in order to finally be able to reconnect wide awake with the new future.