Transitions

Abstract

The “season” in history that we are living through seems to be a time of transition, an intermediate stage, a stage of transformation moving from a condition of relative instability towards finding a new balance. Although this evolutionary process began to unfold at the end of the Second World War, it does not seem to have reached a new condition of stability as of yet. Heraclitus affirmed that life in itself is change, a constant shifting from one condition to another: “Pànta Rhei”, the only principle that applies to all things in the world is becoming, that means that, every thing opposing to others contains within itself one aspect opposition: “The road uphill and the road downhill is only one and the same ” (it contains the opposite qualities of ascent and descent). Where will this same road take us to? After the illusion of a new enlightenment arisen from rejecting tradition, from sharing knowledge, from an emphasis on tolerance and freedom, now it seems that there is a need for a new humanism.