United we Stand. Divided we Fall.

Divide et impera. Is war as old as the world?

Pandavas vs. Kauravas.

Cain and Abel.

Sunni vs Shia.

East and West.

Humans vs. Trans- & Post-Humans, or Aliens?

Conflicts, disputes and divisions around principles & beliefs, ancestry & succession, power & politics etc. are as old as time itself.

That’s what makes them so sticky. Divisions force us to outgrow our comfort zones. It’s almost as if we humans (and perhaps the Gods amongst themselves) can’t live without it. Debate is good until war becomes inevitable?

The political geography of Orwell’s 1984 looks quite similar to the developments of the day, with the exception of Greenland, but hey, what’s a color change on a map?

The three fictional superstates of the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four are Oceania (black), Eurasia (red), and Eastasia (yellow). 'Disputed territories' are indicated in grey.

Divide et impera — Divide and conquer

is a motto so old it didn’t just serve Caesar, it’s probably anchored in time itself. And if time wanted to die, what would it do? It would split. Once the “clock” is fractured and we can no longer agree on an accurate time, time itself ceases to be a measure and becomes a weapon.

Perhaps this “fracture” isn’t a random break, but a predictable stage in a much older cycle. Plato, in The Republic, described the inevitable decay of regimes — a slow slide from honor-seeking Timocracy, through the rule of the wealthy few in an Oligarchy, into a Democracy that eventually collapses under its own weight into Tyranny.

Today we are experiencing an avalanche of divisions, but interestingly they are almost all catered towards choosing a 0 or 1 side of the same coin. This binary tension is the friction of a system in transition.

Yet, we aren’t binary beings and as such we should know better. We are entering a “New Old World” where the framework of our coexistence is fracturing our manifested reality; as explored in the analysis When Rules Become Optional, this shift toward polarization often occurs when the foundational rules that once governed our societies begin to feel like “suggestions” rather than requirements. When the rules become optional, the slide from Democracy to Tyranny accelerates.

For ages, the subjects of Politics, Religion, and Migration have served this purpose.

More recently, we have seen:

• Public Health: Covid (Jabs/no jabs)

• Geopolitics: Ukraine-Russia | Palestine-Israel

• Economics & Sovereignty: US-Venezuela

All of them invite us to “pick a side” and helped to polarise us further.

As a unified race in the universe, with all of us stuck together on one planet, we need to learn not to pick a side. In the end, nothing is black and white, yet everything is colorful.

Opinions opinionate, fates fade, decisions divide and consequences crumble.

Ultimate outcomes are hard to predict in a world that’s so connected, so full of information (that’s easy to come by), and yet so hard to dissect and make sense of.

What we should focus on is that these topics don’t separate our human values and with it, ourselves, from each other.

The reality is simply this: United we (humans) stand. Divided we (societies) fall. We must choose to be the bridge, not the border.

Anna

A Note from the Desk: This piece marks my first as the new Owner and Editor-in-Chief of MTO Publication. While I am honored to take the baton from Toby, I am even more excited to navigate this colorful, non-binary future with all of you. I’d love to hear your reflections in the comments — let’s build the bridge together.