Project Vision 21

The concept of “divided mind” is so old in Western culture that Heraclitus already spoke about this topic two and a half millennia ago, stating at the beginning of his book that many of us, although awake, live asleep. In this postmodern 21st century, that concept has become significantly relevant amid the complexities of modern life.

Let's be honest: we suffer from such information overload that we no longer know what to believe and, therefore, we live in a constant state of cognitive dissonance and epistemological ambiguity. We try unsuccessfully to reconcile conflicting perspectives, beliefs and values ​​with each other, thus exacerbating the feeling of a divided mind.

At the same time, technological advances (e.g., social media) have fragmented our attention. The omnipresence of technology (there is always a screen in front of our eyes), while offering numerous benefits, has also contributed to a laziness of thinking, disguised as “multitasking” that makes it difficult for us to cultivate a sense of inner peace and concentration.

Currently, societies around the world are experiencing increasing polarization, with deepening divisions along political, ideological and cultural lines. This social fragmentation reflects, sharpens and amplifies the feeling of a divided mind within individuals, generating undeniable feelings of alienation, anxiety and constant conflict.

Therefore, our existence becomes uncertain and the need to find meaning and direction for our lives is so great that we look for them in the most unusual and least effective places. In fact, this existential search can lead us to even deeper internal conflicts as we navigate between various perspectives on our true place in the world.

And all of this happens in this postmodern era, characterized by the questioning of traditional belief systems and a search for meaning in a chaotic, unpredictable, ambiguous and uncertain world.

These genuine existential concerns can lead to a sense of meaninglessness or an acceptance that our existence may have no inherent purpose or meaning. The result is a divided mind, that is, a state of internal conflict caused by the presence of negativity and trauma stored in the personal subconscious mind.

But the divided mind goes beyond a psychological factor. In fact, it is a philosophical and metaphysical dimension that is rarely talked about and, when it is, it is generally superficial by leaving aside topics such as the inevitability of death, the non-delegable responsibility of each person to build his own world and the loneliness of the human condition in a universe perceived as indifferent.

Already in ancient times an itinerant teacher taught that “no city or house divided against itself will prevail.” Unfortunately for us, we have transformed that and other expressions of wisdom into dogmas and creeds and, even worse, into tools of division and discrimination to the point of separating us from ourselves.

Perhaps it is time to recover ancient wisdom and reactivate ancestral practices, a process that begins by assuming each of us has wisdom of their own, as Heraclitus warned 2500 years ago. Then, a new future will emerge.