There's no end to inspiring visions of the new world. These are submissions since the beginning of the year. Keep them coming.

- Flemming

** Matthew Shapiro , Idaho **

** Madeleine Costa **

My vision for a new future and better world would begin deep within each person. People would begin to realize their inner magic and godliness. Their use of imagination would be all that would be necessary for creating beautiful realities for them. Once each human being could realize this, fear would be abolished and with that all of what is troubling mankind would soon disappear. There would be no need for hoardishness or jealousy because each being could produce all that he needed through his own innate powers of creation and imagination. Those who learned these techniques for tapping their inner power would share their knowledge freely, not to make money on books, tapes and seminars. It would be by helping others to succeed that each person would acquire more success in their own life. With the inner knowledge that all good thinks can be created by inner work, imagination and creativity, there would be much less of this frenetic rushing around to "find" success. With the building up of one's own inner resources and self-esteem, there would not exisit such an addition for the admiration and approval of others. Thus would we know freedom.

Madeleine Costa

** Heiner Benking , Germany **

MY VISON and DREAM is that the CHILDREN start a real revolution by asking the right questions and we ADULTS support them instead of as OBSERVERS stopping and blinding them.

This is closer to reality as one can imagine as times are ready now. Children have already started in 1993 as they agreed that that the WORLD VIEW they learn in school is too flat! They were interviewing all FUTURIST at a WORLD conference and were fed up after here no news but silly claims and little insight or vision about possible futures. A freind wrote in co-operation with Robert Jungk already in 1991 or so about a children crusade and the children in this worldwide CHILDREN COMMUNCIATION CAMP were ready for it, but they just had teh wron medium, A KNOWLEDGE NEWSLETTER, waht would have happened if they would have had chat groups and E_MAIl...

So what did the children do? They accepted that we can make maps and plans. MAPS of waht is there, and models of waht could be there. They saw that what they learned in school is 'TOO FLAT' and that it was easiy to play with my in virtual realms, like waht we call today CYBESPACE, like a Situation SPACE which makes sense and gives ORIENTATION.

MY DREAM would be to help them pick up the MATTER and see the things together again, see how structures are the same and taht they only need to understand core-knowledge, see how boundaries between fields are artificial, and how great imagination is.

They moved the Journalists which made some color full -page coverage about this new developments, ... but were move again, with there parents, across the GLOBE.

MY HOPE is that we TAKE such CHILDREN events not as anotehr show, but looking into their eyes and trying to see with their eyes - AND if they come up with results and realizations, do not continue business as usual and kill dreams and images, hopes and ideals.

TODAY children see anguish, frustration and aggression of adults, which are lost in information and even manage to avoid locking at the mess they have created by 'not-knowing' and false pretense. They see the elders holding onto the dogama of hierachical and dualistic models instead of enjoying the best of all worlds..., instead of being wise and detached.

MY VISION is a bottom-up revolution, where children get help from adults and ask for coherence and essence, for ways to see deeper and find the joy of understanding more about how things are connected.

Heiner
SHARING FUTURES http://newciv.org/cob/members/benking/
times, spaces, voices, views, values,.. in SHARED PERSPECTIVE
Voice: +49 731 501 -910 FAX -929
benking@faw.uni-ulm.de
Heiner BENKING, PoBox 2060, D- 89010 Ulm, GERMANY

** Marylynn Schmidt , New Jersey, USA **

** Truth Fellowship , Melbourne, Australia **

The long-awaited moment of humanity's collective initiation into spiritual adulthood is nigh, and many human-beings will soon become consciously aware of intergalactic familial affiliations that predate the most ancient scriptures upon Earth today. In instigating a vital process of light-energy invocation for the world, selfless group-alliance will serve to bridge the existing gulf between mankind and these civilisations which constitute the greater part of its cosmic family. For the very first time since the original 'Creator-gods' walked amongst men on Earth aeons ago, the human-race will know and claim its heritage as worthy members of a divine society spanning a multitude of worlds and dimensions throughout Infinity. This momentous reunification of long-separated celestial families will bring about the initiation of Mother Gaia herself - anticipated for millions of years - as she fulfills a major part of her own spiritual destiny and becomes universally recognised as a sacred planet within our local solar system; one very small but nevertheless important globe amongst a vast network of stellar-systems extending in all directions, pervading the Cosmos, and which have been actively functioning as intelligent, living satellites of the Divine Will for long ages.

Simon.

** jonwill **

I believe that every person has dreamed of a better existence, and that Utopia is the best existence attainable. Therefore, humanity's common goal should be Utopia. We are all of one race, the human race, and we should work toward our common dream.

I further believe that knowledge is the key to Utopia. With the right knowledge we can cure all illness. With the right knowledge we can feed everyone. With robots, machines, computers, and other technologies beyond our current knowledge such as molecular rearranging mechanisms, we can have unlimited production capabilities. In sum, with the right knowledge we can have Utopia. Knowledge is like a snowball rolled from the top of a snow covered mountain. It starts small but exponentially increases. In the last 30 years more information was processed than in the previous 5000 years. If humanity would recognize this reality, and devote more resources toward accumulation, use and dissemination of knowledge, we could accelerate the pace at which we reach a better world. In sum, a common effort toward a common goal will produce results. Humanity needs a mission statement to guide it's efforts. Utopia is the ultimate mission statement.

A simple message, that covers all issues.

A short book on this view is set forth at http://www.erols.com/jonwill/

Sincerely,
Jon

** Owen Dell , California **

GATHERING POWER

To my companions on the journey through mid-life:

When we devote ourselves to becoming more open-hearted and seeking and loving, something happens to us in the middle of our lives, something big. It's happening to me now and I see it happening to many others. If it happens to enough of us and if we accept it and have the courage to take our places in the righteous moments that await us, we and the world will thrive. I have come to believe that we are not born simply to take and to hold, but rather to give our best to the world in the brief time we have here. I see now that the first half of life is rightly devoted to gaining - knowledge, wisdom, place and security. The second half is just as rightly devoted to giving back, to fleshing out the details of wisdom. It is this that I believe we must now do, with all our power. I feel that power welling up in me and I feel the excitement and the fear that accompany it. I wonder if you feel it too, and what it means to you.

When I was in college - I was 18 or 19 - I took a career aptitude test. When the results came back I was astonished to see that my calling, according to the printout, was to be a minister. For a long time, this seemed to be a ludicrous thing, but the thought stuck with me, has nagged at me these many years and lately I've been thinking about it a lot. I remain devoutly secular and continue to despise religion for its many faults, yet when I look at the deeper implications of the idea of "ministry" I see something there. If I take it as a metaphor for a path of speaking up for what is right and good and putting all else aside for this, then ministry begins to look like what I want to be doing. A ministry not of the church but of the heart, a ministry that speaks out about compassion for people and nature, about the possibilities hidden in all of us, about what could be. I haven't been ready for this, and I've been afraid.

About four years ago, I began to speak about wanting to "play with the big boys." This was shorthand for taking myself seriously and beginning to actualize my belief that I had something to contribute that was original and important. As soon as I accepted this about myself, opportunities began to come my way. Truthfully, I believe they were always there but I just never allowed them to enter my life. It wasn't time. Now, suddenly, I was on the path. Since then, I have taken many small steps and I've come a long way. Today I feel a readiness that at once thrills and scares me. The idea of being called is no longer an abstraction. It is my time to move towards the unknown. I wonder if it is yours, too.

I believe that we are gathering power, each in his or her own way. We are coming up to our seminal moments, to the times for which we were born. It's important for us to believe in ourselves right now, because the little voices of doubt will natter in our ears and could keep us from moving forward with strong pulls on the oars. I believe that our moments of truth are here facing us and it's time for us to put our backs into it. We have prepared ourselves well. We know what we have to do. There are no more reasons to hold back. We can take the hero's journey. We can.

Owen Dell December 3, 1997

** Lourdes Diaz **

I believe in the infinity of this world. There is infinite time and space and the only true rules are those of nature. Accepted logical society rules are short of this infinity because they are man made. I refer to rules such as government, marriage, economic rules, positions, titles and accepted societal behavior as the blind fold of human kind. They narrow our view to the much broader picture, which we were meant to discover in our existence.

In order to elevate our souls beyond what we currently know, we must discover the intricate nature of life in the universe. It is right in front out our senses to discover its power. However, the closest we have gotten to it is what we call "love". The right track, I humbly believe, is to totally allow our mind, soul and body to "love" without allowing any man made rules to control this experience. That way we can truly discover our existence as it is, not as what generations have decided it should be.

** Laurence Evans , South Africa **

Briefly, a vision needs principles as a foundation. Firstly people need to accept God as the Creator and evolution as the process that we, being subject to time, view as the "how" of creation. With an evolutionary view of nature, we find that where two creatures have a long association through time, they coevolve. The bee and the flower the classic example of this.

Life on the holistic level operates on two inseparable principles. Similar to a coin, it has 2 faces, or sides that make up the whole. Life forms have to perpetuate their kind. Life forms live within an environment (ecosystem, habitat) upon which they depend. If the lion overpopulates, it depletes its prey and perishes. Therefore, along with the inherent drive to perpetuate, there is a regulatory feedback from the environment creating compatibility. This is the yin and yang of nature created through evolution. This dynamic interplay of perpetuity and compatibility has lead to the diversity of life. These forces are from the very basis of matter and so irresistible. In humanity, the aberation of war always ends in peace due to the requirement of perpetuity and compatibility.

This vision leads to a world with:

1. high energetic efficiency through improved technology, 
2. where the ideal is to minimise the impact on all life-forms
3. where every creature has the right to perpetuate so long as 
4. life forms do not threaten human survival as 
5. humans are the intelligence central to all ecosystem processes. 
6. The surviving society will have adopted cheap and efficient technologies. 
7. Plants that feed people and animals will be planted widely as a policy. 
8. Interactive principles will lead to compatibility between humanity and nature. 
9. Pollution will not exist. Society will live in centres surrounded by a wilderness. 
10. The "wilderness" will serve human needs. 
11. Evolutionary forces will be regulated by human intelligence.

These ideas are fully explored in my book, "Nature's Holism".

** Roger Bishop Jones **

See the Factasia page at http://www.rbjones.com/rbjpub/rbj008.htm

"Factasia is dedicated to constructive, imaginative and positive thinking about the future. It is based on the premise that discussing now what our options are for the future is one good way of exerting a benign influence on the course of history. Factasia is a journey not a destination; a pilgrimage to a chosen land whose image is built by the citizens of the cyber-enabled participatory democracy which forms its political bedrock."