* By Eugenia Romanelli (President of the Cultural Association ReWriters), who every month signs an editorial for TPI on the rewriting of the contemporary imaginary.
The We-mode by clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Peter Fonagy, professor at University College London, is a type of functioning that, if activated, can transform any kind of conflict. At the base of the We-mode there is the sharing of minds, which presupposes a good capacity for mentalization, that is, the coordination between subjective experience, what another person is experiencing and the objective evaluation of external reality. If the mentalization is shared (co-mentalization), that is, if the ability to recognize that one has different perspectives on an object of reality is shared, the sharing of minds is activated, precisely the We-mode.
This step is essential to understand in depth the claim of the ReWriters Manifesto, a point of view is just the view from one point, which actually wants to represent the importance of We-mode in social coexistence. Being able to create a shared focus, a shared intentionality, a co-mentalization between different perspectives means understanding together something we are sharing: how useful it would be, for example now, on the vaccine focus, instead of fueling opposition!
This sort of first person plural produces collaboration and allows the entire social group, the entire community to evolve, despite the differences in perspective of the subjectivity of each one. It is a question of replacing the contrast between the individual and the social sphere with the incorporation of social cognition.
Develop a model We-mode it means cultivating a culture of inseparability from our community, a new imaginary of identity, no longer separated from everything that is not me, but holistic, in relation to one’s own ecosystem, which ultimately is also the planet, as well as society of peers.
The Finnish philosopher, who died last year, Raimo Heikki Tuomela, spoke of “seeing something jointly”: identity as we, no longer understood as I. Which is the same concept underlying post queer thinking, where the them it is used to address people who define themselves as non-binary.
Necessary condition to activate the We-mode it is the deconstruction of prejudice (or prediction). It helps us understand how neuroscientist Karl John Friston, a true world authority in the field of neuroimaging and theorist of predictive coding: the brain is a generative model, it generates hypotheses, and it does so by trying to maximize these hypotheses and minimizing the predictions; therefore the prediction error (bias) is the difference (the mismatch), between predictions and feedback from reality.
Fonagy applies this mathematical model of computational sciences to the We-mode to show us how our natural interaction with the “outside world”, with others, is something that, in the optimal model of fluidity, belongs to us physiologically: “This mathematical model is very important for us – says Fonagy – because it explains the value of entropy in relationships, free energy, that mentalization that allows the We-Model. However, we often act to make our predictions and prejudices true and to minimize surprise – which always involves a certain amount of effort in reshaping our beliefs. To confirm the predictions, to make the world a predictable and reassuring place, it is enough to refer to the models or experiences of the past, in order to “control” the feedback from reality. Here, the more we distance ourselves from the optimal model of fluidity and willingness to integrate change, the more we develop a sort of “petrification”, of securing with respect to the social world – which is perceived as a threat, which however invalidates the ability of mentalization ”, and therefore the We-Mode.
ReWriters is an invitation to We-model as a method for a value revolution that has as its objective the accomplished realization of every living being, sentient or not, in relation to the purpose of its own nature. Anyone who wants to contribute to our project, becoming a partner, sponsor or blogger, write to me at [email protected].
#ReWriters #Wemode #opportunity #social #coexistence #cooperative #basis