Seeing the Future

Over and over and over again the work of a visionary leader is to see what is not there...yet.  Imagining what things could be, anticipating how the needs of a community could be met in a way not yet discovered, is in a very real way SEEing the future.

In days of old this kind of foresight was restricted to the prophets.  They were the liaison between present and future.  When the community would get stuck in a situation, it was the prophet who could see the way out.  A direct line to God would certainly help.

But in today’s world, fore-seeing is the work of strategists, analysts, and researchers.  They analyze the past to find the trends of the future.  The science of statistical analysis gives a sense of certainty to a matter.  But does it in the ultimate sense?

In reality, still no one really knows.

We are all guessing.  And I would guess the prophets of old knew their visions were not their own.  They could not completely know what they meant.  They understood that.  Perhaps we need more of that mystical lens today in our future-casting?

We want so badly to have scientific certainty.  And in many ways have created really comprehensive ways of measuring things.  But, as any honest researchers know, measuring the past can not predict the future.  Not exactly.  Reality still throws us.

And in some ways that’s how we know it is reality: it is unpredictable. Better than fiction.  Richer than any 2D version of it we can imagine or create.  Life is richer, full of this beautiful reality of struggle, joy, and wonder.  We are humbled.

And yet, day by day we get a little more clarity.  The road behind us gets a little longer then the road in front of us.  But the clarity is not neatly laid out in plans and policies.  It's more like a dream.  Think of Martin Luther King's famous speech (at the end of the march on Washington).

He was up till 3 am the night before, ensuring all the policy points were neatly included.  But while giving the speech Gospel singer and friend Mahalia Jackson leans toward him and whispers, “tell them about the dream Martin.”  The power comes in the dream.

Not in the scripts we work so hard on completing.

That is the beauty of vision casting.  It’s more like a dream.  It is vague on details but vividly concrete on outcomes: “I see little white boys holding hands with little black girls.”  Like our dreams at night we see a distinct scene, however strange the context.

The future is a series of those strange but vivid scenes.  How many times have you dreamed a scene that later happens?  This so-called deja vu is indicative of how this future-casting works.  We get little pieces.  Sharp scenes.  But the story is unclear.

How does this fit?  When does that fit?  How does this happen?  We just don’t know.  We see little scenes.  Clearly.  And sometimes those scenes drive us and other humans to incredible legnths.  “Imagine....”  We can.  We can almost actually see it.

Once our imagination is engaged, look out.  This is where meaning happens.  Something inside us is deeply stirred, even decided deeply within us. Without this sort of deep soul stirring, all manner of inspiration falls short.  This is how we see the future!