Describing a vision for the future is much more difficult than I thought. So I want to share this vision, from Margo Adair and William Aal from Tools For Change, as an example of what a vision can be.
We share this vision not because we expect it to be yours, but because vision ignites the imagination. You may want to read the next section slowly, giving yourself time to imagine what I am suggesting. Take a breath between sentences. Notice what visions arise for you and give them life. There is nothing that has ever been created that wasn’t first imagined.
If we can imagine it, we can create it. What if trust were to society what oil is to machinery? Imagine a world that runs on trust. Imagine a world where we have learned how to be honest with ourselves, and with each other—where the only safe way of being is to be honest. Imagine a world where intuition, spirituality, and emotions are all as valued as the intellect. Where our stories weave wonder into the world, where care becomes the currency of exchange.
Imagine a society that lives in synchrony with the cycles of nature, where human life is sustained on renewable energy as is nature itself, where the earth is cherished, and whatever is taken out is returned. Imagine knowing that there would always be a place for you and your family, a place for everyone’s family. Imagine being able to take it for granted that there would always be a place for your descendents, for all descendents, for humanity—a place on earth. Imagine how it feels to always belong—belong in a diversified community, for it is the diversity in nature that gives the web of life its strength. Imagine a time when everyone cherishes diversity in people because knowing diversity gives community its strength. Imagine being able to relax into our connectedness—into a web of mutually supportive relations with each other and with nature.
Imagine a world where what is valued most is not power but nurturance, where the aim is to care and be cared for, where the expression of love is commonplace. The dawn of each day is a blessing, reverence is in the air. We live as though life itself is an act of worship. Imagine a time when generosity is assumed. Creativity and laughter is everywhere.
Imagine a world, where it is understood that enough is good, and that more than enough isn’t, where there is a deep understanding of the difference between wants and needs. Imagine a world where greed, opportunism, coercion, and manipulation are all social crimes. Imagine a world where there is collective support in the overcoming of individual limitations, where mistakes aren’t hidden but welcomed as opportunities to learn, where there is no reason to withhold information, where honesty is a given.
Imagine a world where power without accountability was history. Imagine a world where bureaucracy, like the dinosaur, is extinct. Imagine a world on a human scale where work has regained its dignity. Imagine a time when work has regained its creativity, where you are part of the decisions that make a difference. Imagine a time when curiosity, inquiry and vulnerability are held sacred. Imagine a society that reveres patience rather than efficiency. Within patience there is respect, a deep trust—a knowing that in its own time the rosebud will bloom.
Imagine everyone taking pleasure in making their communities beautiful. Imagine the whole of humanity honoring the same sense of responsibility for maintaining the earth. Imagine a world where trust and honesty—not power and deception—are the oil that make society thrive. If we can imagine it, we can create it.
People make history. We can choose respect, trust, and mutual aid. We can choose life. We can choose to heal the earth. We can choose to heal humanity. We can breathe life into this vision.
In relationship, spirit comes alive. May vision-weaving be what we all do with our families, friends, and communities. May we bring vision into the center of public life, discovering what we are for. The Earth and all who live upon her are sacred. Vision and conviction are the fuel and fiber of action. Together we heal present time. May we all live into the changes we want to make. As we embody our visions in the present moment, it makes them manifest. Together we heal future time. Together we heal.