A gym for our imagination muscle

When was the last time you imagined the future? Not a strategic "Where do I see myself in five years" or "Which groceries do I need to buy for next week" future? But rather a vision of the future for yourself and for us as a society in 20, 30, 100 years. What hopes do you have for it? How did it feel?

I've been asking myself this question quite often lately. Followed by a knot tightening somewhere between my chest and upper stomach. I'm actually trained in comparative arts. I've spent most of my adult life analyzing interface issues and delving into the past. The question of how we can write, speak, and remember what was has occupied me for as long as I can remember. "What was" is a euphemism here. Because almost always, it was about individual biographies and collective stories in the context of war, displacement, and death. What I've never learned is how to write (or think?) about what could be. And even less: about what should be.

I do futures work in a feminist organization. The term 'feminist' already creates friction, at best, questions that enable an exchange. When I talk about my work, I usually receive curious, sometimes even puzzled looks. I can't blame them because I'm still training every day on how to do this futures work. It sounds rather abstract at first. Often, it's also quite tricky. For me as an individual, because I often don't feel my impact and safety in this world. And for us as a society, because we are surrounded by old and new crises – catastrophes that make it hard not to despair. As civil society, we are all busy addressing urgent issues in the here and now, limiting damage and protecting from harm. In this context, envisioning a future full of joy, solidarity, justice and, yes, hope sometimes feels almost presumptuous. What happens if we do it anyway? If we dare to imagine and design these futures – not as unattainable utopias, but as a desirable vision and goal we can work towards – right now?

I can't help thinking about the first futuring workshop I facilitated. We were in a small group, and the participants were stuck. They had no idea what measures they should take to achieve their vision of the future – self-organized, secure social networks. Their thinking revolved around technical solutions that promised short-term relief but did not lead to the desired goal in the long term. Until one person in the group was bold enough to tweak a fundamental premise: an unconditional basic income for all. An adjustment that, at first glance, has little to do with social networks but has the potential to fundamentally change the system we live in. What happened in the group afterwards was a bit like magic. Suddenly, there was the courage and confidence to explore positive scenarios. And there were ideas on how to make them a reality.

The barriers in our minds are enormous because the stories we know about the past, present, and future dismiss values such as solidarity, justice and being there for one another as unattainable utopias. This inevitably influences our thoughts and actions. And thereby manifests the realities in which we live. The disasters of our time are a clear warning signal: we can't go on like this! If we want to work towards positive change and new realities, it is high time for alternative narratives. To do this, we need space, time, resources and, above all, practice. Many of us still need to learn to dream up and plan new narratives, visions and futures – it's like a muscle that needs to be trained.

For us as an organization, it is perhaps the most critical muscle – for working on our topics and collaborating with others. The more people and organizations have this muscle, the more we can work towards the futures we aspire to. To realize this, we are launching our pilot program, ‘Futures Literacy for Civil Society’ together with Futures Probes in June 2024. We bring people from civil society together to collectively build futures competence and create new, positive narratives – and thus realities. That gives me hope. Because I know that – best case – it won't just stop with the mere narratives. But rather that they can be translated into concrete measures and actions. What could be more powerful for positive change than the feeling of impact in the world? Again, I feel the tingling of magic.

By the way, the knot in my chest is still there, but it's getting smaller day by day. After all, I'm still training.