If we only accept and see reality as it is, how can we create a better future? Many of us give up on directing the future because we see current patterns in our personal lives or patterns in society as inevitable processes. When we allow our lives to go on autopilot, we forfeit our personal power.
Life does not happen to us, life happens because of us! Many of the situations we find ourselves in today are based on choices we made in the past. Although we can’t possibly control everything in our lives, we have a lot more power to direct our future than we often realize.
Tapping into the resources of our imagination is essential in designing a desirable future for us, and for our descendants. Escaping the trap of reality is necessary if we want to more quickly elevate our everyday lives and the lives of our community. Children and artists are really good at stretching the limits of reality to create something new!
Children have not yet been socialized to believe in a single reality, and to them, anything is possible. For my 3 year old, life is magical, malleable and mysterious and he loves to explore what life has to offer. Nothing has become mundane, boring or pointless for him. This is one of the greatest lessons children have to teach adults.
However, one of the definitive features of being an adult is learning to accept and expect limitations. Many of us adults live a mundane life based on predictable patterns where we have forgotten what is feels like to believe that anything is really possible. Remember the feeling of endless possibilities? I do! I had little concept about the feeling of failure or disappointment—life was about fun, adventure and exploration. Artists, like children, tap into their imaginations to create alternative realities for others to explore.
Whether through literature, film, music, dance, theatre or other types, creative activities artists give form, vision, sound and life to ideas and concepts that were once invisible or unseen. What artists do is quite inspiring, awesome and even a bit magical which is why many of us enjoy what they create. We do not have to be traditional artists to live a creative life where we design a future for ourselves that we desire and deserve.
One of my favorite literary and film genres is science fiction because I believe that in order for us as individuals and us as a species to create an improved future for ourselves and our global community we will have to be able to imagine something far better than what current reality offers. Before something new can be created, it must be imagined!
The future is a range of probabilities and possibilities. Negative habits and traits that we may possess as individuals and as a society do not need to be accepted as inevitable realities. We do not have to settle for a future that we do not want! But we do have to allow ourselves to believe in more than what we can see and experience with our five senses. We do have to possess the desire to manifest something greater for ourselves and for each other.
