Edgewalkers

Serving Those Who Walk Between the Worlds

Future

Faith, Hope and Love

Judi Neal, Founder, Edgewalkers International

This is the first time in human history we have collectively faced significant threats to our survival. Covid-19 is the opening act. It has woken us up to our interdependency and the need to make individual sacrifices for the greater good. But we “ain’t seen nothin’ yet”! Climate change is the star of the show in challenging humanity to come together to save ourselves. One of the key factors in successfully meeting these challenges is hope. Without hope, we will not act, and we will be doomed. Hope is not enough, but it is an essential element in moving forward.

Amory Lovins wrote, “Be neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Both are different forms of fatalism. Instead, practice what I call applied hope: believe our world and the causes you care about can get better, and work to make them so.”  This is where faith comes in. These times challenge us to examine our faith. Do we have faith in humanity to do the right thing in times of crisis? Do we have faith in God, the Universe, the Transcendent, that something good will come out of these challenges? If so, then we can allow ourselves to hope for a better future and we can do what is ours to do. 

Faith is based on past experience. We can have faith in humanity by looking for and seeking out the goodness in people, and by celebrating the kindness, beauty and creativity that we see around us. We can remember that media headlines typically represent only a small proportion of things people say and do, and that negative stories get more attention. Positive stories don’t get headlines, but they do inspire us and remind us of our basic goodness. We can trust the Universe because we sense a holy presence. We know that when we have followed spiritual guidance, things work out for the best.

Hope is focused on the future. It takes courage to hope that a better world will emerge out of crises. Peter Block says, “We change the culture by changing the nature of conversation. It’s about choosing conversations that have the power to create the future.” What kinds of conversations are you having – conversations about all the things that are wrong, or conversations about possibilities? The thing that gives me the most hope for the future is the young people like Greta Thunberg and David Hogg. They think about the greater good and they know how to take action to influence decision-makers. 

“So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13 NCV). One of the definitions of love is to care selflessly about another or others. Faith, hope and love will get us through these crises to a better world that works for all. This I believe.

“Hope is hearing the music of the future. Faith is dancing to it today.” (Alvez)

Feeling Into Tomorrow’s Reality


By Susan K. Furness, Edgewalker Senior Associate

If there is one thing I have long-since known, it is that you cannot know the future. So, when Dr. Judi Neal named “Sensing the Future” as one of the five Edgewalker Skills I was immediately drawn to the conversation. 

The notion of Sensing the Future speaks to me in a number of ways.

  • Sensing the Future speaks to both the creative and logical me, reminding you don’t know what you don’t know and you definitely don’t know the Future until it is has moved through being Present, to become the Past.
  • Sensing the Future stirs my sixth sense of Intuition into play to power-up other ‘sense intelligences’ (hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting. When I combo the embodied knowing of intuition with what I (perceive) I know, I notice how graceful ‘movement’ becomes.
  • Sensing the Future offers me comfort as I give myself permission to stay present, to vision what could be next, but not labour on, or yearn for, what is next now.

I am nudged to consider the difference and/or relationship between Knowing and Sensing. The author Mark Nepo suggests its common to confuse plans with planning, dreams with dreaming and love with loving. Mark also shares that every book he has written has been discovered on the way to unplanned destinations.

This sparks a smile, as my legacy career has me ‘labelled’ Marketing Strategist. Indeed, my 30-year old company, Strategic Solutions bears the responsibility of its name in a (business) world I now know to be more fun, much more real and much less worrying in un-strategic surrender, especially as we navigate to AC (after corona).

I am not mooting the absence of the age-old stalwarts of the Strategic Plan – Mission, Vision, Objectives. Rather, I am appreciating the exchange of vocabulary to ignite a ‘different’ felt shift, or movement, in myself, the team, the client, the customer, the marketplace, the reader, the community …..and some. 

Try these vocabulary exchanges on for size and shift :

  • Mission becomes Purpose which becomes Reason which becomes…
  • Vision becomes Reality which becomes New Reality…
  • Objective becomes Intention which becomes Sense…

The best part is you get to choose the Vocabulary Energetic that works for you and for your Sense of the Future, or perhaps your Sense of a New Reality.

Here’s some to practise as we make ‘quantum leaps’, noticeable or not :

  • Timeline becomes Pulse which becomes Rhythm 
  • Strategy becomes Method which becomes Recipe
  • Tactics become Tasks which become Rituals

According to Dr Neal, the Edgewalker definition of Sensing the Future is ‘the ability to understand and embrace the future’. 

Let’s take the last bit first. 

Embracing the future is an ability we all have, as each breath we take carries us forward. However, it may not be an ability we recognise or enjoy.

I wonder, is this because the future is always just ahead of the point of arrival?

As I ponder, I am aware that understanding the future, especially one we don’t know, is where turmoil can kick right in. Enter the Edgewalker archetypes of change – Hearthtender and Guardian.

The Heathtender – or Heart-Tender – looks kindly at me and says, para-phrased from Anthony De Mello : ‘Find truth in observation, not opinion….’ I take this as embodied observation by listening to the intuitive heart first, before asking my head.

The Guardian or Doomsayer steps forth looks me squarely in my knowing eyes and states : ’It will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it’s not the end….’.

I chuckle. That appeals to my sense of play, as well as my feel for the future, as tomorrow shows up, right here and now. Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.