And the old becomes new

Ever looked through an old trunk and laughed at the clothes you packed away long ago—shoulder pads, high-waisted jeans, neon everything—only to realize they’re now back in style? What once seemed outdated is suddenly all the rage. The longer we live, the more clearly we see: we’ve been here before. Again and again.

We repeat ourselves. Individually, collectively. What is old becomes new—sometimes in slightly altered form, sometimes a direct echo. This cyclical return is not just fashion or trend; it is a pattern embedded deep within human consciousness. And it is key to our healing—both personal and systemic.

This idea—that we are cycling through the same patterns over time—will be a recurring theme in many of the articles I share. Because until we understand this dance of return, we risk remaining unconscious in it.

To truly understand our modern worldview—what we often call “modernity”—we must begin to grapple with a foundational split that emerged during the scientific revolution of the early to mid-1600s. It was during this period that René Descartes famously declared, “Cogito, ergo sum”—I think, therefore I am. In his Passions of the Soul and The Description of the Human Body, Descartes proposed that the body functioned like a machine.

That seemingly simple metaphor—a body as machine—set in motion centuries of mechanistic thinking. Nature itself was no longer alive, but something to be dissected, controlled, and analyzed. The mind was severed from the body. Spirit was severed from form. The living systems of the world were reduced to parts to be manipulated, controlled, and eventually, commodified.

This fragmentation now underpins nearly every modern institution: science, medicine, education, psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry, and even political structures. We break everything apart into isolated units. The human body is no longer a holistic ecosystem but a series of organs, blood vessels, neurotransmitters—all treated independently. One symptom equals one drug. That drug causes a new symptom, which brings a second drug, and on it goes. We bypass the body’s natural wisdom and self-healing ability in favor of controlling symptoms in isolation.

This mechanistic, reductionist worldview has consequences far beyond healthcare. It shapes how we see the world, each other, and ourselves. It separates. It dissects. It numbs.

But something is shifting.

From the realms of quantum physics to the whispers of indigenous wisdom keepers, from trauma healing to ecological restoration, we are being reminded: everything is connected. Everything is alive. Everything is sacred.

The dance we must re-enter is one of relationship—with our bodies, with one another, with the Earth.

And yes, it may look like something ancient rising again. Because it is.

The old becomes new.

And this time, perhaps, we will remember what we once knew all along.