The Image of the Future

In the past few years it has become a more widely accepted fact that the world we live in is running out of the essential resources needed to support our civilization. Crude oil and all forms of energy are in limited supply. There is great concern over the deterioriazation of the ozone layer and global warming. While the threat of war between super powers isn't as likely as it once was, there continues to be the threat of limited conflicts that could escalate into a confrontation that involved other nations, including our own. In addition, growing food to feed all people now alive, as well as millions more to be born, does not seem to be a realizable goal.

In addition, there seems to be tension between those who are concerned for the survival of humanity and our way of life, and those who are concerned for the survival of the ecology as a whole; too often the goals of these two groups seem to be diametrically opposed. Because of these and other factors, a wave of pessimism has been sweeping the world for the last couple of decades.

Influential authors continue to write of potential doom for our way of life. This call has been carried by scholars, scientists, leaders in government and industry, science-fiction writers and many private environmental organizations and concerned citizens (not to mention the media which thrives on news of impending disaster). A central theme in many of these arguments is the world cannot continue on its present course because to do so can only lead to the breakdown of our economic system and ultimately the death of millions of people. Most of the alternatives offered do not contain within them ways to save our civilization, but rather suggest ways that small groups of us might be able to weather the coming storm. If we are to believe these authors, there seems little we can do to escape a future that holds no hope for untold millions of people destined to live lives filled with physical and emotional suffering and death as the wheels of our civilization grind to a halt.

Is there any hope? Can we, our society, escape this pessimistic future and instead enter the Twenty-First Century with hope and faith as we enter a new age of plenty where the challenge of preserving our world and its ecology becomes a goal consistent with the survival of humanity and our way of life?

There are many authors who see much to be hopeful about. Authors who believe that technology holds a hope for the future and that we may discover ways to overcome what seem to be impossible odds with our limited knowledge. Others believe that we are on the brink of experiencing a new level of consciousness that will lead to the greatest surge of knowledge and potential the world has ever seen.

What does the future hold for our society and for other societies on the Earth? Will the actual future be closer to the doom we all fear or the promise we hope for? What kind of control do we have over the future? Is there anything we can do?

I believe there is. The hope for the future lies in a better understanding of how the vision, or image of the future impacts the future itself, and how this knowledge can be used to "create" for our society, to help bring about, a positive future with hope and potential for generations of humanity.

The future of our society is dependent on our hopes, expectations and images of it. I do not mean the long-term future years or even decades ahead, but tomorrow, the short-term future only days, weeks or, at the most, months from now. We can increase the possibility of a more positive future by developing and nurturing positive visions and images of it. F. L. Polak in his book, Images of the Future, said, "Human society and culture are being magnetically pulled towards a future fulfillment of their own idealistic images of the future, as well as being pushed from behind by their own realistic past." Our thoughts and beliefs of what the future will be like can move us toward that future and help to create and affect the present.

While a strong, positive vision of the future does lead to confidence, I'm not talking only about a confidence in the future. Confidence is a reaction to a belief about the coming short-term future, next month or next year. No, what I'm talking about is a people's response to a vision of what the future can be. A image of a future that is as far reaching and challenging as any of the great visions of the past, the type of vision that moves a society and the people within it. When the people begin to believe a vision of this magnitude everything is changed and the world is never the same again.

O. W. Markley of the Stanford Research Institute said, "The development of our societies has been in large part dependent on the creative vision of the great members of the human race, and of the images of the future of the important cultures throughout history." Malachi Martin, a Jesuit priest and student of why societies succeed or fail, in his book The New Castle said, "The greatest heights of culture and civilization were always fashioned, not within the molds of sociological cause and effect, but within a transcendent vision." Finally, the late Ed Lindaman, a past director of program planning for the design and manufacture of the Apollo Spacecraft and President of Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington said, "The believer not only interprets history but, above all, he changes it, because he believes, because he hopes."

Malachi Martin too believes in the power of the image of the future. In his book he speaks of the image of the future as a vision of the "Castle." Different people and different societies throughout history have experienced this vision of the future, of a better world, a world where anything and everything was possible. The Castle was their vision of that ideal state.

For example, there was an obscure Semite nomad, named Abraham, who was the first witness of the Jewish vision and the patriarch of the major religions of the western world. The power of his vision has lasted for over 5000 years.

How many of you have seen the desert around Salt Lake City, Utah? I don't know how you feel, but I have never seen one more desolate. The legends say there were only seven trees in that whole valley when Brigham Young chose it as the site for the Mormon community. They had no money and very little material goods. Most of them didn't even have horses. But they did have a vision, a vision of a city by the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Only seven years after the first person stepped foot in that area, the foundation to the temple was being laid; and today we have Salt Lake City, Utah, a thriving, green and well planned city, a jewel in the desert.

There have been many visions that have shaped the history and future of our world including the "American dream" that is just slightly over 200 years old. Each of these cultures was/is being driven by a vision, a vision that began with a few people and spread throughout the society, shaping the future and transforming the present.

I feared the future, feared my children's world,

Feared the outcome of the massive changes taking
place in our country.

My imagination ran wild and I had visions of the
breakdown or society,
millions dead and dying,
cities empty and decaying,
our way of life gone for centuries.

The future, for me, a steamroller
rushing madly downhill,
no one at the controls.

Doubt and fear of things to come.

Forward into the unknown.
Hope beckons.