Project Vision 21

Over the past few weeks, an increasing number of people have been asking me—more frequently than usual, though not unexpectedly—what we can do in a world and society undergoing such deep, constant, and unconsulted changes that they literally disorient and even paralyze us. And they asked me, as if I had an answer.

For many, the need to reflect arises—perhaps for the first time—because we find ourselves living in a world that is volatile (any conflict can erupt anywhere, at any moment), unpredictable (we cannot anticipate what will happen), complex (what happens in one place affects everything else), and ambiguous (nothing is as it seems).
 

Perhaps reflection should begin with the fact that at every moment of our lives, we are situated within a historical, cultural, social, and linguistic context. When that context remains stable—and therefore manageable—for a long time, we take it so much for granted that we lose awareness of its presence. (It’s similar to how, after listening to the sound of rain for a long time, we stop noticing it.)
 

The prominent and trailblazing Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset captured this idea in a strikingly simple yet profound way: “I am I and my circumstances.” (Prologue to Meditations on Quixote, 1914). He immediately added: “If I do not save them, I do not save myself.” Yet in daily life, we often ignore both the duplication of the self and the circumstances surrounding it.
 

This is neither the time nor the place to fully unpack Ortega’s famous statement, so for now, we will simply say that only by becoming aware of our own awareness can we recognize our circumstances. At the same time, it is only through our circumstances that we become aware of ourselves. It is an inseparable and continuous interaction.
 

Through the rereading of Ortega by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, his philosophical ideas—reframed from a biological and scientific perspective (as embodied cognition)—have had a significant influence on the neuroscientific and phenomenological research of John Vervaeke at the University of Toronto.
 

In fact, Ortega’s concept of circumstance seems to expand into Vervaeke’s idea of agent-arena (or agent-situatedness). Put simply, in order to know how to act, we must first recognize the arena in which we are acting. We cannot step onto a soccer field dressed as ballet dancers. The arena defines—though not entirely—the ways in which we can act.
 

So, what can we do in today’s world? First, become aware of our own awareness and our circumstances. Second, creatively adapt our actions to the arena we find ourselves in. But there may be a further step: preparing for the future, rather than just a future.
 

The future is not merely the day after today. That’s just chronological time. The existential, living future is an expansion of awareness that allows us to access possibilities and opportunities previously unseen or unimagined. This awareness of possibility enables us to be ready for any future—whether pleasant or not.