One of the advantages I have as being a member of the Baha’i Faith is that we have an understanding about the future of mankind being so amazingly positive that it is impossible to get even the slightest glimpse of what it will be like.   To future generations we will be regarded as spiritual barbarians.    It has gotten me to speculate about how to carry that kind of positive thinking into my every moment.

What I have noticed is that when I visualize the future  like for instance the next 30 minutes in a positive way ,  then the next 30 minutes become extraordinarily great.    It just seems so simple.    For the world to become a much better place we are all going to have to make thousands of dynamic transformations.    When my mind sees them, it is as if they go from a distant hope to a very real present.

So who is controlling the future in a negative way?

In most cultures around the world these days there seems to be a certain amount of apocalyptic thinking.   The wielders of negative prophecy throw out the worst image of what is going to happen in the near future like humanity being destroyed in a single event.   It has the effect of making people see the future as negative which then causes a great deal of fear.   As soon as people are fearful then they become controllable.      When you are controllable, you will do what the apocalyptic folks want you to do rather than what is in your heart to do.

Most people grow up in households that use this kind of thinking.   The mothers often see the future as negative so they pound into their children’s minds how negative the future is going to be.    This makes the children fearful which then allows them to be controlled by the parent’s wishes.   It usually ends up being about homework.  If you don’t study everyday and do extra work, then you are going to end up in poverty.     The apocalypse for a child is ending up in poverty so they all give into studying endlessly when maybe they should be outside doing more useful endeavors.

If the goal you have set for your child is to enter Harvard or some other big named university, then you can be sure that you are victim of apocalyptic thinking.   You see the future for your child as extremely negative which causes you to do everything you can to make his/her future safe.   Harvard is like a haven of safety for the child’s future.

To get around this you can just begin thinking about the future as exactly the opposite of the apocalypse which means to see it as bright, not safe.    When my daughter was a student in university, she came upon this period when she got really stuck because it seemed like everything was a dead end that she was studying.    During the conversation I suggested to her that her future career probably didn’t exist in the world yet, meaning that it was new to the world.   She just had to let go and begin thinking about positive options.    The next day she saw a poster about teaching English and studying Spanish at the same time in Mexico.   Then she thought that she could learn Spanish and also study art for a time there.    The world opened up to her and she did it.    I think that it worked because she turned from being protective and negative about the future to being positive.

One of the reasons that control freaks can pedal apocalyptic thinking is that most of us have such a difficult time doing our change work.    Even the self-help gurus try to sell you the goal of having a lot of money and lots of great sex from beautiful people instead of really significant changes because they are trying to be protected from the negative future in their unconscious mind.    Why does someone need to make more money than they can ever possibly use?    It is protection from the deeply held belief about the end of things that somehow gobs and gobs of material things will protect them.       Apocalyptic thinking works.   It controls people.

Controlling things so that a negative future does not happen is what we do as a human race, but what it does is prevent the positive future from being seen and moved to quickly.    The positive future is going to have its way whether we want it or not.    World peace is happening right before our eyes.  International cooperation can even now be clearly seen on the horizon.   There is no holding it back.   When we allow it to be seen, it just happens much faster.

Negative things tend to happen when we do not allow the positive future into our vision.    When we hold onto our protectionism by trying to hold onto the present state of things like who controls the flow of money,  it is because we are fearful of a negative apocalypse.    When we let go of the present that is filled with a negative future,  then we become so much happier and fulfilled.

One thing we know for sure.  The future is much brighter than we think it is.  It will have its way.    When we don’t allow it to have its way by holding onto archaic ideas and practices,  then lots of pain and suffering happen.   This is the real apocalypse, but the positive future has its way all the same.   I don’t think it cares about the pain and suffering if that is what it takes to let go of the negative future.

So  if the positive future is going to have its way,  how do you respond to it?   It is important to realize that the positive future means one that is beneficial to all of mankind and not one filled with selfish interest.    Selfish interest is fear even if it looks like a positive future.    A world where women are dominated by men, for instance, is not a positive future.  It is self interest based upon fear of losing your currently-held unfair advantage.   The first step  to having a positive future is to let go of self interest by recognizing that is fear-based behavior.

The second step is to imagine the brightest future you possibly can and then to ramp it several more notches.    If you are going to have a prophecy about the future, let it be beneficial to others and positive, not negative.     Whenever you feel negative toward what is going to happen in the future, then the key is to understand that you are living in fear.    When you address the fear, what is left over is very bright future which causes a very bright present tense.

Think about the next 30 minutes and how really great it could be.  Now ramp it.  Did you remember about the benefiting of mankind clause?