"If you did not do what you did today, for example, the entire world would be in some way different.

Your acts ripple outward in ways that you do not understand, interacting with the experience of others, and hence, forming world events. The most famous and the most anonymous person are connected through such a fabric, and an action seemingly small and innocuous can end up changing history."
Jane Roberts, The Nature of the Psyche: It's Human Expression, 1979

Michael Ventura wrote a book about the 60's and 70's called Shadow Dancing in the USA. One of the concepts that fascinated me is his believing that many of us are awake at 3 AM in the morning ... wondering, worrying, playing with ideas, intuiting and creating our future. At a gathering with some of my friends in Point Arena and Gualala, I shared this thought and from here an idea took form. Anne Kessler took the lead and has organized a really fun event. On April 1, 2007 we are hosting the first of what we think might be many...

WHAT DREAMS KEEP YOU UP AT 3 AM?
Do you have an idea, a dream, a project, a vision? Our dynamic community is filled with brilliant and creative people whose ideas and projects will totally amaze you! Do you have a project that is community minded, or a plan for a business, or just a really wacky idea? Could you use some help? Would you like to let people know what you are thinking?

The idea is catching on. The mayor of Point Arena calls it an Idea Party. Existing businesses are joining in and creating booths to share their own future visions and plans. Ideas and dreams are popping forth!

I plan to have a booth called: You can't get there from here but you can get Here from There. (MGT axiom) I'll encourage people to do backcasting and imagine that in 2012 they are wildly successful with their dreams and ideas and have them tell their story of how their dreams were realized.

Last year at the ISSS conference Tomorrow Makers did a similar exercise with about 150 participants. Only we had the participants leap out 50 years. It was a wonderful exercise and people still report how much hope and insight they gained from this experience.

“If science always insists that a new order must be immediately fruitful, or that it has some new predictive power, then creativity will be blocked.

“New thoughts generally arise with a play of the mind, and the failure to appreciate this is actually one of the major blocks to creativity.

“Thought is generally considered to be a sober and weighty business. But here it is being suggested that creative play is an essential element in forming new hypotheses and ideas.

“Indeed, thought which tries to avoid play is in fact playing false with itself. Play, it appears, is the very essence of thought.” David Bohm

I look forward to creating another Journal entry shortly after our Idea party.