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In the vast landscape
of world literature, few authors have embodied as many voices, thoughts, and
emotions as Fernando Pessoa. Born in Portugal in 1888, Pessoa was not merely a
writer—he was a constellation of personalities, a true inner universe that
challenged the boundaries of identity, creativity, and human psychology.
Instead of simply writing in different styles, he created heteronyms—fully
formed literary personas with distinct biographies, unique styles, divergent
worldviews, and even relationships among themselves. This multiplicity was not
merely a literary device; it was a window into the richness of the human mind,
a mirror reflecting how our identities are fluid and how the brain is capable
of shifting across perspectives. Today, in light of neuroscience and the most
innovative educational methodologies, we revisit Pessoa's work to inspire,
motivate, and educate.
The phenomenon of
Pessoa's heteronyms—Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, Álvaro de Campos, Bernardo
Soares, among others—offers fertile ground for contemporary cognitive
psychology and neuroscience. Research conducted by institutions such as
Stanford and Cambridge indicates that the ability to switch between multiple
mental perspectives is directly linked to the development of brain areas
associated with empathy, creativity, and metacognition. The human brain, as
shown by studies from the University of Pennsylvania, can be trained to think
multifacetedly, developing what neuroscientists call "cognitive
flexibility." Pessoa, with his many literary souls, seems to have
anticipated these findings by almost a century, incorporating into his poetic
practice what we now aim to cultivate in both educational and therapeutic
contexts.
Pessoa's work cannot
be understood solely through its external form, but through the deep inner
restlessness that moves it. In his poems and prose, we find a constant tension
between being and seeming, feeling and thinking, living and observing life. His
famous line—"I have within me all the dreams of the world"—synthesizes
this inner vastness. In a way, he was a precursor to the modern concept of the
“multiple self,” now studied by psychologists like Richard Schwartz, creator of
the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, where each individual hosts different
“parts” with their own memories, desires, and intentions. Pessoa’s genius was
to give these parts a complete voice, turning his internal fragmentation into
art, poetry, and reflection.
There is also a
profoundly educational aspect to Pessoa's universe. By creating heteronyms with
such diverse philosophical stances, Pessoa offers a model for critical and
plural thinking. For example, Alberto Caeiro, the poet of nature, lives in the
present and rejects metaphysics; Ricardo Reis is classical, stoic, and
restrained; Álvaro de Campos is impulsive, futurist, and fascinated by
progress. This variety shows that no truth is absolute and that knowledge is
built through the dialogue between multiple perspectives. Contemporary
educators like Professor Antônio Carlos dos Santos have explored this richness
to create methodologies such as MAT (Mindset, Action, and Theater),
where students engage in different modes of thinking through theatrical,
literary, and cognitive activities—just as Pessoa did with his poetic personas.
The use of theater, in
fact, creates a powerful bridge between Pessoa and modern educational practice.
With the ThM (Theater Movement) methodology, Antônio Carlos dos Santos
proposes that students explore their multiple dimensions through the body and
dramatic expression. By embodying different characters and emotions, young
people come into contact with hidden parts of themselves, developing empathy,
imagination, and self-knowledge. This mirrors Pessoa’s practice: in writing as
Caeiro or Campos, Pessoa wasn’t pretending—he was expanding the boundaries of
consciousness. This approach aligns with both artistic practice and
neuroscience, which increasingly advocate for learning environments that honor
emotional intelligence and inner diversity.
Another method
developed by Antônio Carlos, the Mané Beiçudo Puppet Theater (TBMB), is
particularly effective in child development. Based on principles from
neuroeducation and developmental psychology, TBMB enables children to express
emotions, conflicts, and ideas through puppet characters that speak, feel, and
act like real people. It’s as if each puppet were a child’s heteronym—an
“auxiliary soul” that helps them explore inner dilemmas in a playful and safe
way. This approach echoes findings from Harvard University, which show that
symbolic externalization of emotions fosters emotional regulation and
strengthens prefrontal brain circuits—those involved in decision-making,
empathy, and abstract thinking.
Pessoa's historical
context must also be considered. He lived through the end of the 19th and
beginning of the 20th century, a time of profound political, scientific, and
philosophical change. The instability of his era, combined with early
orphanhood and a fragmented education between South Africa and Portugal,
contributed to his worldview of life as a stage of illusions, where everyone
plays a role that is never fixed. This feeling of displacement—now studied in
psychology as adaptive dissociation—was transformed by Pessoa into art that
doesn’t seek to resolve chaos but to express it with beauty and depth. Instead
of fleeing complexity, he made it his poetic material. This is a powerful
lesson for today’s world, where people often seek simplistic solutions for deep
dilemmas.
Pessoa’s message,
therefore, is not only literary—it is also educational, psychological, and
spiritual. He invites us to accept our internal multiplicity, to live with our
contradictions, and to give voice to all our parts. In doing so, he becomes a
symbol of creative resilience. Instead of clinging to a rigid identity, Pessoa
chose to be many—and in that choice, he found freedom. In a time when identity
is often seen as fixed and unchangeable, his work reminds us that to be human
is to be mutable, fluid, complex. It is to be, as he wrote, “an interval
between what we are and what we think we are.”
By integrating
contemporary neuroscience with Pessoa’s work, we can design richer, more inclusive
educational environments. Imagine a classroom where each student is encouraged
to experience different ways of being, thinking, and acting, without fear of
judgment. Where theater, literature, and science walk hand in hand, promoting
not just the acquisition of knowledge, but the blossoming of awareness. Recent
studies from University College London show that artistic expression combined
with metacognitive reflection activates brain areas linked to emotional
intelligence and creativity. In other words, cultivating whole, healthy
citizens requires helping each person recognize and value the “souls” that live
within them.
Ultimately, speaking
of Fernando Pessoa is speaking of all of us. Each of us carries a bit of
Caeiro, Reis, Campos, and Soares within. Every day, we play different roles:
parents, children, professionals, dreamers, warriors, caretakers, critics,
lovers. By understanding this not as a sign of instability, but of human
richness, we open the way to a new way of living—more empathetic, more
creative, more conscious. May the many souls of Fernando Pessoa inspire in us
the courage to be everything we are capable of becoming.
Access the books by Antônio Carlos dos Santos on amazon.com or amazon.com.br
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