In a short piece by Dr. Marcus Bussey, we find a foresight and futures point of view that speaks to a deep futuring philosophy that exists beyond the popular simplism of deductive trend scouting, issue identification and forecasting practices that only serve to reinforce existing systems.
“𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯… 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘺, 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦; 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯, 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦… 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦…𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴… 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.” (https://marcusbussey.medium.com/the-inward-path-as-transformative-responsibility-245ad0a91d43)
For me, Dr. Bussey’s idea of “wording” vs. “worlding” speaks to the very “future of foresight” and its role in greater societal and systemic transition.
Is your foresight…
1. 𝗗𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (object/outcomes/goals/data/linear metrics) or 𝗔𝗯𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (the puzzle, coalescence of factors and experiences, narratology, embracing of complexity for opportunities — the matrix of creativity)? This can also be seen in Ilkka Tuomi’s concept of Epistemic Uncertainty vs. Ontological Unpredictability. http://www.meaningprocessing.com/personalPages/tuomi/articles/ForesightInAnUnpredictableWorld-extract.pdf
2. 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼r 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴? Foresight that seeks to prop up existing systems through navigation and/or leveraging of trends and emerging issues, or foresight that bring into question the utility of our present systems to advance the generativity and broad-based prosperity of human development, living systems, and expansion of consciousness.
3. 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱? The poet Maria Rilke wrote, “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” Autonoetic Consciousness and Chronesthesia ARE inner evolutionary human traits, and the difference between these two foresight approaches is more than a matter of semantics — it determines the manner in which we approach foresight/futures altogether. This is also the difference between foresight of things and foresight of living systems.
