Ten steps to a new vision

A vision for our people!

What is our vision and who are our people?

Throughout time until the 20th century, most humans would have ready answers to these questions. Now the visionless people-less condition that once affected only the most rich and the most privileged has become the prerogative of many:

We take the social order for granted, and some of us define ourselves by railing against it, no longer content with the limit of being able to exist only by filling a predetermined social role. Rejecting the dominant vision, replacing it with nothing, leads to despair. Prevented by our bias against the establishment and the elite, we neglect to look to the very role models that could guide us to a revivifying vision. Surrounded by passivity and mediocrity, we forget that there ever was anything else.

Well, there was and is, and this may be the new era where the newly visionless learn of the new vision; the new era that could not be called a renaissance, because such as is about to happen has never been seen before, as humanity, en masse, leaps up in a few short generations, to become a community of co-creative beings, living in harmony with their universal and earthly environment. But not so fast! For now, it's just you and I, and what shall our new vision be? Where are we two (and a few of our friends) going as a people and what will our part in it be?

What is a vision? How does it work? Where do I get one? And will it help me pay the rent and attract a lover? In the following paragraphs we will explore the world of visions. You'll learn the ten steps to developing a vision and the seven secrets of being able to know when you've got a good one. And, yes, having a vision will make all your wildest dreams come true... In fact, a vision is your wildest dreams!

Without further delay, here are the ten steps to cooking up your own vision:

(1) Set aside some time. If you can't spend 40 days and nights at our desert retreat center, our consultants can help you empty your daily schedule to make time for your visioning process. If like most of us you've been resisting social roles instead of filling them, you've at the least been successful at avoiding encumbrances like houses, spouses, cars, small children, and nine-to-five jobs... so this part should be easy!

(2) Get a library card. The elite of the past and present foresaw your predicament and provided you with a public library. There are some people you should get to know, and that is where you'll find their thoughts. If there isn't a good library nearby and you don't have tons of money to have books sent to you, you've got your work cut out for you. All those books originally came from the same place, and it wasn't the library. You can try to do the job yourself, and maybe you (and we) will be the better for it. Or you can move, or help start a library!

(3) Make sure you're dissatisfied. If you're perfectly happy with the way things are, and you're just reading this because you think it might help you stay happy--well... I guess that's ok too.

(4) Ensure that your basic needs are taken care of. The first to have the new vision were princes and princesses who had everything, or were nuns, monks, or hermits who could get by happily on little. Either way, if you're distracted by hunger, lack of shelter, or various kinds of pollution (including noise), or in great physical pain, this process won't be as easy (that doesn't mean you can't do it though!).

(5) If you're a Christian, become a christian. Likewise with any other cult. Since you've been railing against the status quo, it's unlikely you'll have the problem of strong cult identification. As for the others all around you who do... be thankful that you're reading this, and that there is a library.

(6) Take a deep breath. Slowly exhale. Good.

(7) Begin the visioning process. You are to contemplate the following: (a) Who are your people? (b) Where are they going as a whole? and (c) What is your part in it?

(8) If you get stuck, apply to those resources you think most likely to be of assistance. Your library card could come in handy. Our consultants can provide some guidance for a sliding-scale fee, especially if you fall in the princess category.

(9) Repeat steps seven and eight, keeping in mind all the preceding steps.

(10) Enjoy your newly growing vision! Don't forget steps one through nine. This is, I'm afraid, a never-ending process.

Now, that wasn't so easy, was it? But at last, you're no longer despairing about being visionless! And you're now ready for the seven sequential secrets of being able to know you've got a good vision! Do not fear, it is ok to read them in advance, and they may even help you in your visioning process.

I. Do you like it?

II. Do your friends like it?

III. Does everyone in your school/neighborhood/workplace like it?

IV. Does the local newspaper editor like it?

V. The local news anchor?

Well, you've got the gist of it. If you don't get past two, you may need new friends, no friends, or perhaps your vision is self- or other-destructive. If you make it past III, be sure to tell them how you got it, and enjoy working on expressing and realizing the new vision!