Imagine
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For many years I have been inspired by John Lennon's iconic and prophetic masterpiece compelling us to envision a future in which the values of unity and compassion have replaced our foundational values of separateness and material acquisition. The song so perfectly and so simply invites us to do that, but it is easy to feel discouraged when we are daily reminded that our current culture founded on colonialism and supremacy is upside down.
Throughout this site you will find quotes about the power of imagination, starting on the home page with James Baldwin and Albert Einstein. Einstein also reminded us that “a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” Many others have made interpretations and similar statements indicating that we cannot solve our systemic problems (social, political, economic, justice, medical, educational, environmental, etc.) using the same thinking and perspective with which we created those systems and problems. We have to be able to imagine a better future before we can create it. |
A Few Resources
The number of writers, thought leaders, and organizers using the language of imagination is growing. Here are three folks imagining a better future that I like to read and follow.
Valarie Kaur's 2017 Ted Talk takes listeners on a personal journey--that is also our collective journey--through childbirth, the Sikh religion, hate crimes, and forgiveness. She imagines "a world where love is a public ethic." Her 2021 memoir, See No Stranger, weaves together the personal, political, spiritual, and mystical as she chronicles her experience as a Sikh woman and explores the American socio-political landscape post-9/11. The book outlines her vision of Revolutionary Love and culminates in her founding of the Revolutionary Love Project.
adrienne marie brown was inspired by Octavia Butler's science fiction future and Margaret Wheatley's ideas about emergence and complexity to formulate Emergent Strategy. Principles of Emergent Strategy in social justice and liberation work emphasize relationships and depth (critical connections) over organizations and breadth (critical mass). They also include looking to systems in nature for how to thrive (biomimicry).
Charles Eisenstein writes and speaks on a variety of topics. His overarching theme is the innate potential humanity possesses to imagine and create new ways of being, to transcend our current reality of separateness, and to evolve toward Interbeing. Of his books, I highly recommend The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.
Valarie Kaur's 2017 Ted Talk takes listeners on a personal journey--that is also our collective journey--through childbirth, the Sikh religion, hate crimes, and forgiveness. She imagines "a world where love is a public ethic." Her 2021 memoir, See No Stranger, weaves together the personal, political, spiritual, and mystical as she chronicles her experience as a Sikh woman and explores the American socio-political landscape post-9/11. The book outlines her vision of Revolutionary Love and culminates in her founding of the Revolutionary Love Project.
adrienne marie brown was inspired by Octavia Butler's science fiction future and Margaret Wheatley's ideas about emergence and complexity to formulate Emergent Strategy. Principles of Emergent Strategy in social justice and liberation work emphasize relationships and depth (critical connections) over organizations and breadth (critical mass). They also include looking to systems in nature for how to thrive (biomimicry).
Charles Eisenstein writes and speaks on a variety of topics. His overarching theme is the innate potential humanity possesses to imagine and create new ways of being, to transcend our current reality of separateness, and to evolve toward Interbeing. Of his books, I highly recommend The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.
“By deliberately changing the internal image of reality, people can change the world.
Indeed, the real fundamental changes in societies have come about not from dictates of governments
and the results of battles, but through vast numbers of people changing their minds.”
Willis Harman
Michael Sala Imagine Better Eden Prairie, MN 952-201-7461
