Imagination Creates The Future

"If we don't change direction, we're likely to end up where we're headed" (Chinese proverb). In the west we seem to hang on to another proverb: "The more things change, the more they stay the same". When I thought about these two sayings I wondered which one strikes at the core of things. They both refer to the future. One is a warning and encouragement to think and change if necessary, the other is a downright bummer which discourages any thought because it doesn't matter. One makes sense, the other contradicts itself.

So where are we headed?

• sixth mass extinction of life
• climate change, meaning more extreme and erratic weather
• growing inequality where just a few people own more than the bottom 50%
• increasing centralization of power and control
• more wars to gain control of dwindling resources

Is that where we want to end up? It's not even that things stay the same, they're getting progressively worse every year.

So how can we change direction? I think the answer is imagination. Every great invention, any breakthrough in science, every improvement started with someone imagining it. Instead of being stuck in "what is" we can imagine and dream about "what can be". Once we fall in love with the image we create, we can share it with other people. By focussing our energy and our powers of cooperation we can then work on steering reality in that direction. That is how slavery was abolished, that is how governments have changed multiple times and that is ultimately how we can create a better world as well.

Before imagination comes observation. We need to know where we're headed and why, before we can imagine solutions and improvements. So what can we observe?

When we look at nature and all things we can consider natural, we see a fully decentralized system. All those creatures: plants and trees, animals and insects, fungi and bacteria, come to life and start doing whatever it is that they do. Nobody gives them directions, they just live their function. The outcome is a stunning symphony of elements and behaviors that has made this planet what it is, thriving with life and abundance. To me this is a guiding observation, because I see natural forces at work that are way stronger than any individual.

I see an opposing force as well, this is the force that causes all the trouble we're in, all the suffering and all this destruction we live through. This force doesn't adhere to live and let live, instead it tries to control and dominate everything it can. This force lies, cheats and steals, it murders and bribes, it censors and works in hidden and secretive ways. It gets its power from centralization, by concentrating power and wealth in small groups. This force doesn't create anything, it's a ruthless force and it's well on its way to wreck total destruction on life and this planet.

Now to me it seems that every single person has both of these forces inside of themselves. The force of life I would call love, and the force of destruction I would call ego. Generally for most people the force of love is bigger than the force of ego. However, our culture teaches us to focus more on our ego. I believe our culture does that because it benefits the centralization of power. After millennia of kings and rulers, of wars and famines, we have now ended up with power centers of big corporations, huge banks and governments that control almost everything, even up to the information that reaches us through the media. This is the only way for ego to win over love, it can only do that by force, by actively fighting the power of love.

But we're not lost as a species yet, because we still have our imagination. The more we're repulsed by the existing destructive powers that be, the more incentive we have to think of something better. The more light is thrown on the evils committed by those few that want to rule everything, the clearer it becomes that we need to turn away from this culture of abuse and start something new, something not based in ego but in love. Love for this incredible planet, love for nature that had us evolve to the spirits and beings we are today. Love for everything that is alive and that deserves to be nurtured.

As Buckminster Fuller said: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Now look around you again, this is already happening. People are sharing thoughts and information. They think of new ways of doing things better. There is Permaculture to live in sustainable ways, there are reforestation efforts to get our climate back under control, there is blockchain technology to decentralize money and government. The only thing missing is to get the majority imagining a better world along with these pioneer efforts. Not in a centralized way, but in an personal way. If you don't want to end up on the wrong side of history, then ask yourself what you could add to this growing force of life. We'd better start imagining a better world and change direction, because else we will end up where we're headed!

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