Building the Future

We don't have to invent the future.

A beautiful future for our world – sustainable, peaceful, nourishing to every aspect of the human body, mind and spirit – already exists in the mind of the Divine. Our task is to discover it and to choose it.

Would that it were that simple.

Discovery is hindered by millennia of history telling us that the only paths forward must involve mastery and control: The idea that surrender, into our true being, could offer the most vital, dynamic path of creation, is foreign to our ingrained ways of thinking. But our ingrained thinking fails to take into account the supercharged force of Divine creation and intelligence we could be in partnership with, if only we can let go of our delusion that we are in charge of Creation. We are not. We never were. And, paradoxically, it is in humility that we will find the path to our true greatness.

Choice is similarly hindered by forces that are lined up in the world to protect entrenched power at every level, from the global economy to the relationships between individuals in institutions, workplaces, schools, families, couples. Building the future truly starts at home, in our willingness to surrender old patterns of dominance and competition within the most intimate relationships, opening ourselves to feeling the full pain of our limitations and past hurts – and thereby opening ourselves to more truth with ourselves and each other. With that truth will come the understanding that we are much more similar than different, and that no one is to blame for the limitations in ourselves or in the circumstances of our lives, not ourselves or anyone else. Without a sense of burden, we can assume full responsibility for who we are and how we are. And with that will come peacefulness and joy, released from compulsive needs to be in control, free of oppression by others, our collective creative genius unleashed.

Nice theory. What are we supposed to do about that?

We can start by tuning in: An imprint for the next step of human evolution already exists in the mind of the Divine. We don’t have to invent how to live together in a sane, just, and happy world: Our souls already know how. Somewhere within us, below the level of “figuring it out”, is our intuitive connection to the understanding we need. But it’s very hard for any one person to connect to this knowledge alone; we need to seek it in each other and with each other.

And … while the imprint for our future already exists as Divine possibility, it won’t take form on its own, any more than an artist’s sketch of a proposed building will suddenly become the building itself. The details are up to us, and it will take all the energy, creativity, patience, and fortitude we can muster to work them out. For now, while we wait for some of the roadblocks to be cleared away, we can start visualizing our future: Again, not by “thinking it up”, but by striving for the deepest possible understanding of the world that Divine love desires for us – and then getting down to the labor of figuring out the details.

Visualizing may sound like a passive, even pointless pastime. What gives it meaning, what makes it an active contribution to the future, comes through connecting it with spiritual activism – i.e., living the world you imagine to whatever degree is possible in this time, making your life an example of the values you hold. “Being a spiritual activist means working to create a loving, just, sacred, and sustainable world through means that are also loving, just, sacred, and sustainable. A spiritual activist practices empathy in word and deed as a way to build beloved communities and transform consciousness.” (https://spiritualprogressives.org/philosophy/spiritual-activism/). When you embody your vision – or as Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see” – you provide a model for living that can inspire others. AND create a placeholder for that future in the consciousness of the world, helping it to move from “fantasy” to “possibility” in peoples’ consciousness.

Your vision can have validity even if you have no idea how it will be achieved.

No one would try to build a bridge without a set of engineering drawings first. No one would even try to create such drawings unless there was first the idea of a bridge, a structure to carry you across the river while keeping your feet dry. The first time anyone ever built a bridge, they had to feel out, step by step, how to create such a thing in physical form. But in this care we’re light-years ahead of the first bridge-builder because the blueprint for the Divine Kingdom already exists inside us – and so our intention to go in that direction will be energized by the participation of Divine Spirit, if we are truly aligned with it. And if not, we’ll learn to become more aligned, as long as our core intention is to be of service to the earth.

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are seeing a unique historical opportunity to heal past patterns and move into an entirely new paradigm for how human souls can live together on the earth.

Coronavirus is providing the impetus for (a) high levels of innovation, creativity, resilience and adaptation, (b) self-examination on a global scale, at a time when (c) groundwork has been prepared for a massive shift in new thinking through past efforts to fashion society along lines that are more respectful to life (human and otherwise) – i.e., environmental awareness, social and economic justice, etc, and (d) technology exists to support very rapid adaptation to new ways of living – this includes the internet as a tool of communication and access to information, manufacturing and energy technologies, deepening understand of the natural world and how we can work with it to mutual benefit.

In this section of The Daily Hope we explore, first, how to clarify the inner vision, to purify and simplify our intention to help build a better world. Then we look at how people are expressing their visions out in the world, and how each of us can become agents of sacred transformation.

Plant the seeds of a better world by defining a vision of what a more conscious, healed world will look like. This section includes a daily newspaper from the future, sent back through time to help encourage us on our journey.

Planting the Future

One of the great misperceptions of our time is that there is intrinsic conflict between ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’ views of reality, with people on both sides of the political spectrum dismissive and fearful of the others’ reality – and failing to perceive the Oneness that unites all. In this section of The Daily Hope, we explore the sacred dimensions of our political and social objectives, and the opportunities to heal the rift between the two perspectives.

The Daily Hope