Jacques de Gerlache & Patrick Corsi
Abstract In order to address the challenges of the Anthropocene relating to the fractured relationship between humans and nature, and in line with the objectives of No Limits to Hope, we propose innovative educational practices that can be adopted as policies. These practices aim to empower educators and practitioners to drive systemic change, incorporating existing knowledge, including traditional and indigenous wisdom. This paper particularly proposes establishing a transdisciplinary reconnection of knowledge systems. This vision requires the integration of all planetary components — ecological, spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political — while respecting socio-cultural diversity and epistemological pluralism. This approach transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, creating a holistic transformation of minds, mentalities, science, and worldviews. At the heart of this methodology lies René Magritte’s surrealist technique, which shows how art and science can come together to break free from fixed ways of thinking. Magritte’s paintings and their accompanying titles establish a dynamic relationship between reality and imagination, revealing the invisible through the visible and prompting shifts in consciousness. His work exemplifies the interplay of concepts and knowledge that is necessary for paradigmatic shifts. This transformative agency aims to overcome economic drifts, democratic fatigue, and divisive pseudo-truths through education and collective solidarity. The Alliance aspires to create a global agora, fostering shared experiences and mutual trust in order to realize a multicultural, symbiotic planetary destiny. The ultimate goal is a harmonized planetary community that functions like an Olympic convention, where cultures share experiences rather than compete, creating a planetary symphony based on mutual trust, solidarity, and benevolent compassion, and escaping the contemporary threats of nihilism and pseudo-truths.
Keywords: Transdisciplinarity – Planetary Governance – Reconnection – Magrittean – C-K theory.
1. A Planetary Vision Within the Human Dimension
1.1 A planetary alliance for rights and duties
“Reconnect” is the theme of the next World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC) in 2026. The Congress aims to contribute to the in-depth reorganization of knowledge, structures, and laws towards interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. These dimensions are essential to the integration of all the physical, chemical, biological, and sociological components of the planet. Through transdisciplinary education, we can reconnect humanity and nature in a new covenant, reconnecting peoples and cultures. This approach takes full account of socio-cultural diversity, biodiversity, the relationship between humans and nature, and the role of epistemological pluralism. In this context, we could contribute to the adoption of an international Alliance and Convention on Planetary Rights and Duties. Real-time operational controls that ensure compliance with governance rules would establish this reconnection of all components of our planet, including the human dimension, within their specific conditions and ways of life.
1.2 The complexity of planetary life
Planetary life is a complex multiplicity that cannot be separated into its ecological, spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political dimensions. Many forms of energy — spiritual, cultural, and material — can be mobilized and gathered within multiple groups or associations, from families to local, regional, and national communities. The challenge is to catalyze the emergence of a harmonizing movement in solidarity with an equitable and shared planetary ideal, while respecting the identity and societal autonomy of all biological communities and individuals. In this context, the question for No Limits to Hope is how to reorganize knowledge, structures, and laws toward interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in order to produce a holistic metamorphosis capable of changing minds, mentalities, science, paradigms, and worldviews in each community, affecting all dimensions of planetary life in its complex multiplicity: ecological, spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political. This recognizes the value of reactivating individual and collective memory, as Theodor Adorno puts it: “The only thing that distinguishes man from the animal is the ability to see the world through the eyes of another human being.” We must face the holistic challenge of catalyzing the emergence of a harmonizing movement in solidarity — a planetary ideal that is equitable and cooperative, and which respects the identity and societal autonomy of all biological communities and their individuals. This requires us to reorganize knowledge, educational practices, structures, and laws.
1.3 Escaping contemporary threats
The weakening of community belonging, a consequence of increased individual freedom, requires the reconstruction of educational pathways that promote harmony. This enables us to escape the barriers of pandemic frustrations generated by primary delusions that make instrumental not only facts but also feelings. Examples of this include Brexit, as expressed by Frans Timmermans in his book Fraternity: Reweaving Our Links. There are threats that attempt to restrict access to courses leading to reasonable outcomes, due to the significant weakening of the sense of belonging to a community — a logical consequence of increased individual freedom. Therefore, it is a matter of education to rebuild this path harmoniously, in order to escape the cancers of hatred and barbarism that some people are trying to impose on us. Steve Jobs captured this intersection beautifully: “I love living at the intersection between arts and sciences. This junction point itself has a magical aura.” We envisage a future of community and planetary diversity, with coherent borders that operate as gateways rather than barriers — like the boundaries between tissues within the same organism. This evolution could be realized by organizing a planetary mobilization resembling an Olympic Convention — a kind of agora where participants share experiences rather than compete. The finals would become a harmonized planetary symphony performed by all communities. This vision is realized through mutual trust and collective solidarity, combining sharing and benevolent compassion with altruism.
1.4 A new form of planetary mobilization
As Frans Timmermans quotes Albert Camus, “The only thing that distinguishes man from the animal is the ability to see the world through the eyes of another human being.” This implies a destiny of community and planetary diversity with coherent borders that are not walls but passages, like those between the tissues of the same organism. This capacity for empathy and perspective-taking is crucial for creating dynamics that facilitate holistic metamorphosis, encompassing intuitive and emotional dimensions, drawing on contributions from both science and the arts. The path to wisdom and universal love is exemplified by Buddha’s teaching: “The teaching is like a raft that is made to cross, not to be clung to.” This evolution could gradually materialize through a planetary mobilization such as an Olympic Convention, where participants share experiences to inspire others rather than compete. The finals would be a harmonized planetary symphony performed by all communities. Education should encourage a destiny based on mutual trust, collective solidarity, sharing, benevolent compassion, and altruism, promoting the realization of a multicultural and symbiotic ideal shared by all humanity. “Let the wise man live in his village like the bee, gathering nectar without damaging the flower in its color or perfume.” For this Convention of Planetary Rights and Duties, the question is how to agree on a new course that escapes storms and passive indifference, particularly in the face of economic drifts and democratic exhaustion. As Régis Debray and Frans Timmermans put it, this route must be adapted to the terrain and obstacles, with foundations, verges, and borders that structure and facilitate mutual exchanges and tolerance, enabling control of excesses. This tolerance is particularly important in the face of the impasses of nihilistic and stereotyped pseudo-truths that claim to be absolute and are progressively imposed by supposed economic, political, cultural, or religious saviors.
2. A Methodological Transformation Through Art
2.1 Introducing the Magrittean approach
A methodological approach to transforming learning and reconnecting humanity with nature could lead to a new alliance for a better future. As Paul Watzlawick said, “It isn’t how things really are that constitutes the problem and should be changed, but the premise of how things should be seen.” Reuniting arts and science requires a transformative agency capable of expressing both. René Magritte (1898–1967) challenges the perceptions of those who observe his work. While contemporary art is often characterized by its ability to abruptly trigger awareness, Magritte engages in a more gradual and unexpected process. His paintings teach key lessons about reconnecting and bringing about holistic change that can transform mindsets, mentalities, science, paradigms, and worldviews. The resonance between the objects in his paintings and their titles reveals how the invisible emerges from the visible, transcending common sense.
2.2 Diving into creative unknowns
In Magritte’s style, the artist of the unconscious reveals the unknown by engaging with the interplay of concepts and knowledge. Moving between reality and imagination, he hybridizes the world, reuniting the mundane with speculative propositions. Rather than using analogies or metaphors, he frames the emergence of a whole as a dynamic unity of painting and title. This overcomes fixed and reductive thinking, offering long-term solutions to alter thought patterns. His work exemplifies a paradigmatic shift, raising awareness of overlooked perspectives on matter, life, and consciousness.
2.3 Calling for a resonant method
Magritte provides a model for transformation. His titles function as undecidable propositions that challenge conventional thinking. Through his method, a poetic dimension emerges — an intuitive dynamic between knowledge, the object, and the image — recalling Saussure’s distinction between signifier and signified. The C–K theory of design models innovation through the interplay of Concept (C) and Knowledge (K) spaces, generating new ideas rooted in established knowledge.
2.4 Exemplifying with C–K theory
C–K structures creative reasoning through four operators: (1) generating root concepts (K→C); (2) expanding concepts (C→C); (3) producing new knowledge (K→K); and (4) reintegrating concepts (C→K). This iterative process builds systemic innovation, such as educational frameworks integrating indigenous knowledge into modern curricula.
2.5 Learning to transcend space and consciousness
For Magritte, both thought and life share thermodynamic processes. His art compels the viewer to “find an elsewhere,” transcending representation to stimulate consciousness. Space becomes a mathematical and conceptual category, transforming how we perceive relationships — a metaphor for the shift needed in education and governance to reconnect the human and planetary dimensions.
3. Conclusion
The key challenge for societies is to implement a metamorphosis of educational policies that empower systemic change. Inspired by Magritte’s topos — the bridge between art and science — this methodology fosters transdisciplinary transformation, reconnecting all planetary components while respecting cultural and epistemological diversity. It paves the way toward a multicultural and symbiotic human destiny built on trust, solidarity, and compassion. By integrating ecological, spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political energies into a coherent whole, we can achieve civilizational transformation. Education, as the catalyst of this evolution, must cultivate inner values that harmonize knowledge and empathy — enabling humanity to walk a shared path toward wisdom and universal love.
