This is wonderful Maree. You have articulated your point so clearly. This really resonates with me and my own foresight experience and practices. I look forward to seeing where this journey leads.
Hi Melanie, thank you for commenting, so few people do. I just keep writing hoping it makes sense to others! :) I am glad it resonates with you, and it is a journey, but I think I'm getting closer to articulating what I think is the 'whole' story.
Thanks for this reflection, Maree. I was hoping to make it to Sofia but alas could not. So this article allowed a little vicarious experience for me.
One thing that came to mind as I read this was how much your emphasis on the present is reflected also in the work of Dave Snowden and others who come from a complexity/complexity science perspective (indeed, Riel’s work is the closest I’ve seen to a synthesis of foresight and complexity). That is, they typically abandon the process of envisioning an ideal future state, in favour of noticing the adjacent possible in the present. Or as Snowden would say, given our current state is X (a mix of the desirable and undesirable, then how to we tweak things in the present to have a little more of the former and a little less of the latter. This requires a relinquishment of any reified images of the future and notions that we can “design” the future, and attention instead to what is emerging, or what has the potential to emerge at any given moment. In other words, to work with what the universe is actually presenting to us, with what is already emerging or latent.
Anyway, I’d love to learn more about your experiences and discuss. If you could spare the time, I’d welcome a chat!
Thanks James. The focus on the present has only just emerged in this way (in the post) in the last month - a few things connected some dots in Sofia. I’m still interested in imagining futures but not to ‘use’ them to try to connect present and futures in some tangible way. So yes, no reified images as in much scenario work, and yes finding new and emerging ideas in the present. Yes, to work with what the universe presents to us, not recreating the past over and over again. It is still a work in progress in my brain though but I’m getting there. I’ll be in touch about a chat soon.
I agree that imagining futures still has a place, especially for the purpose of widening perception and increasing sensitivity to sense and make sense of novelty in the present. (Although I'd also maintain that old fashioned linear scenario planning still has its place too - speaking as someone working a lot within the water sector where there remain appropriate applications of such an approach).
This is wonderful Maree. You have articulated your point so clearly. This really resonates with me and my own foresight experience and practices. I look forward to seeing where this journey leads.
Hi Melanie, thank you for commenting, so few people do. I just keep writing hoping it makes sense to others! :) I am glad it resonates with you, and it is a journey, but I think I'm getting closer to articulating what I think is the 'whole' story.
Thanks for this reflection, Maree. I was hoping to make it to Sofia but alas could not. So this article allowed a little vicarious experience for me.
One thing that came to mind as I read this was how much your emphasis on the present is reflected also in the work of Dave Snowden and others who come from a complexity/complexity science perspective (indeed, Riel’s work is the closest I’ve seen to a synthesis of foresight and complexity). That is, they typically abandon the process of envisioning an ideal future state, in favour of noticing the adjacent possible in the present. Or as Snowden would say, given our current state is X (a mix of the desirable and undesirable, then how to we tweak things in the present to have a little more of the former and a little less of the latter. This requires a relinquishment of any reified images of the future and notions that we can “design” the future, and attention instead to what is emerging, or what has the potential to emerge at any given moment. In other words, to work with what the universe is actually presenting to us, with what is already emerging or latent.
Anyway, I’d love to learn more about your experiences and discuss. If you could spare the time, I’d welcome a chat!
Thanks James. The focus on the present has only just emerged in this way (in the post) in the last month - a few things connected some dots in Sofia. I’m still interested in imagining futures but not to ‘use’ them to try to connect present and futures in some tangible way. So yes, no reified images as in much scenario work, and yes finding new and emerging ideas in the present. Yes, to work with what the universe presents to us, not recreating the past over and over again. It is still a work in progress in my brain though but I’m getting there. I’ll be in touch about a chat soon.
I agree that imagining futures still has a place, especially for the purpose of widening perception and increasing sensitivity to sense and make sense of novelty in the present. (Although I'd also maintain that old fashioned linear scenario planning still has its place too - speaking as someone working a lot within the water sector where there remain appropriate applications of such an approach).
Look forward to chatting whenever you're keen.