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In recent years, I have exploredthe nature of future conscious-ness—its psychological dimen-

sions, its historical evolution, andits future possibilities—as well asways to enhance future conscious-ness through education and self-development practices. Meanwhile,I have also explored the nature of wisdom—its connection to the ide-als and goals of education, its im-pact on the quality of life, and itsrelationship to future conscious-ness.

I have come to the conclusion thatwisdom is the ideal toward whichwe should aspire as we develop ourawareness and understanding of thefuture. Heightened future con-sciousness and wisdom go hand inhand.

Everyone possesses some level of awareness of the future, but the ca-

pacity can be greatly empowered orenhanced. In formulating an idealprescription for the development of future consciousness, I discovered anumber of parallels between height-ened future consciousness and the

descriptions of wisdom by contem-porary psychologists and philoso-phers.

What Is Wisdom?

Wisdom is a complex human ca-pacity open to varying interpreta-tions, but the following definitioncaptures some of its most salient fea-tures as understood within contem-porary psychological research andphilosophical inquiry:

Wisdom is the continually evolvingunderstanding of and fascination withthe big picture of life and what is im-portant, ethical, and meaningful; it in-cludes the desire and ability to applythis understanding to enhance thewell-being of life, both for oneself andfor others.

It’s worth noting that wisdom isnot a static state, but is ever evolv-ing. One pursues wisdom ratherthan achieving it. This quality of con-tinual learning is captured in Frenchwriter André Gide’s dictum, “Believe

those who are seeking the truth;doubt those who find it.”

Our definition also reflects wisdom’smotivational-emotional components: afascination with learning about theworld and a desire to help others.

Wisdom involves a holistic and in-tegrative understanding of the worldaround us. Wisdom is not narrow orspecialized knowledge but a broadand deep knowledge that is expan-sive and encompassing. Wisdom seesthe forest and not simply the trees. Itsearches to the horizon and beyond,and identifies what is really signifi-cant in life. And by bringing togetherthe inner world of our minds and theouter world that surrounds us, wis-dom combines knowledge with prac-tical application. Consequently, wis-dom is useful and not just theoretical.Lastly, wisdom has an ethical dimen-sion: It is not simply self-serving, but

is applied to the benefit of others.

What Is Future Consciousness?

A simple definition:

Future consciousness is part of ourgeneral awareness of time, our con-sciousness of past, present, and future.It is the human capacity to havethoughts, feelings, and goals aboutthe future. It is the total integrative setof psychological abilities, processes,

Wisdom Facing Forw What It Means to Have HeighteFuture Consciousness By Tom Lombardo

A psychologist explores the ways in which awareness of the future connects with w

“Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those whofind it.” André Gide

34 THE FUTURIST September-October 2010

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same could be said regarding height-ened future consciousness: To be at-tuned to the future requires us to beaware of the ever moving wave of new theories, new technologies, andemerging social and humanistic is-sues. Two key ideas in our contem-porary understanding of reality areholism and evolution.

Wisdom attempts to see the bigpicture of things—the integratedwholeness of reality—rather thansimply seeing many things or a nar-row slice of reality. Instead, wisdomsees how everything is intercon-nected and recognizes what is basicand fundamental.

Likewise, heightened future con-sciousness requires a comprehensiveunderstanding of contemporarytrends and challenges facing human-ity—seeing the big picture of on-going developments in the world

and the problems facing us.Understanding the world in dy -namic evolutionary terms means see-ing reality as transformative as itmoves from the past to the presentand then, potentially, into the future.Modern evolutionary science andhistory reveal change, progression,and advancement in complexity, both in nature as a whole and in hu-man civilization in particular.

Evolutionary theory also bringswith it an expansive and holistic

Note that, in this definition, height-ened future consciousness is expan-sive in scope and has a broad knowl-edge base (qualities similar towisdom). Besides the cognitive ca-pacities connected with future con-sciousness, there are also motiva-tional, emotional, and personalfeatures, just as there are with wis-dom. Finally, certain basic charactervirtues, such as courage, optimism,and self-responsibility, are associatedwith heightened future conscious-ness.

An Expansive Consciousness ofReality

Both heightened future conscious-ness and wisdom are strongly con-nected to such character virtues asoptimism, courage, ongoing personalgrowth, and an appreciation of un-

certainty. They also involve a broad,expansive, and up-to-date under-standing of reality.

Wisdom cannot be grounded inoutmoded ideas or beliefs. This isnot to discount past ideas, but ratherto acknowledge that, because wis-dom is an evolving process involv-ing learning and transformation, it isalways about absorbing new andemerging ideas. The knowledge baseof wisdom must reflect our best un-derstanding of today’s realities. The

and experiences that humans use tounderstand and deal with the future.Future consciousness covers every-thing in human psychology that per-tains to the future.

All of the major dimensions of hu-man psychology, from cognitive and behavioral to emotional and per-sonal, are involved in future con-sciousness. We imagine and we think about the future; we have feelingsand desires regarding it; we act withpurpose and goals concerning thefuture; and we define the nature of who we are with respect to our per-sonal trajectory and self-narrativethrough time.

Heightened future consciousnessincludes an expansive sense of time,of past and future linked together;an evolutionary or progressive opti-mism about the future; an expansive

and informed sense of contemporarytrends and challenges; creativity,imagination, and curiosity regardingfuture possibilities; courage and en-thusiasm in the face of the adventureand uncertainty of the future; astrong sense of ongoing personalgrowth and purpose involving long-term, goal-directed thinking and be-havior and a future-oriented self-narrative; and a strong element of self-efficacy and self-responsibility indetermining one’s future.

GAWRAV SINHA / ISTOCKPHOTO

THE FUTURIST September-October 2010 35



practical wisdom is supposed to beabout—all have reference to thefuture. What do we want to achieve?What obstacles or difficulties mustwe overcome? The pragmatics of life—the application of knowledge topractical ends—is always about thefuture, about realizing goals andsolving problems. So wisdom isgrounded in experience and learningfrom the past, but at a practical levelit invariably deals with the future:How does one develop the most ef-fective solutions to problems andachieve the best life for oneself andothers? Hence, practical wisdom isreally efficacious future conscious-ness. It is coming up with the bestpossible ways to create the best pos-sible future; it is about competencein determining and creating prefer-

able futures.

The Virtues of Humility andOpenness

Contemporary researchers on wis-dom have identified certain distin-guishing character virtues of wisepeople. Among these qualities arehumility and openness: Wisdom isneither arrogant nor certain butrather a tempered balance of knowl-edge and doubt or uncertainty. Withrespect to the future, there is alwaysan element of possibility, as well asnovelty or creativity. It seems contra-dictory to assert that the person pos-sesses heightened future conscious-ness and yet believes that he or sheknows exactly what is going to hap-pen in the future.

Heightened future consciousness brings with it a degree of openness, asense of possibilities rather than cer-tainties, and enthusiasm for the ad-ventures and surprises that lie ahead.A sense of possibility is flexible and

expansive; a sense of certainty isrigid and narrow. Fear of adventurecircumscribes and limits our con-sciousness—it closes the mind off from learning and growth and fromthe future.

Wise people are wise because theyare open to learning and to growing.Heightened future consciousness hasthis same quality of embracing theadventure of the future. Fear of things that are different and un-expected destroys both wisdom and

time and extrapolates from past andpresent into the future. This differ-ence in emphasis is modest. Thoughit may not seem immediately appar-ent, future consciousness requires anunderstanding of the past—its pat-terns of change, its trends and devel-opments across time—in order to ex-trapolate from past and present into

the future.At a psychological level, memoryand anticipation are intimately con-nected as basic mental capacities; wecannot think ahead without a senseof the past. In fact, within normalconsciousness, past, present, andfuture are not psychologically dis-tinct realities; they interconnect andinterpenetrate.

Furthermore, from the perspectiveof wisdom, our goals, our challenges,and our problems—those things that

temporal consciousness—a big pic-ture of time and of patterns of change. Wisdom grasps this basicpoint. Likewise, for the futurist, un-derstanding contemporary trendsmeans seeing patterns of change thatoriginate in the past and move intothe future.

In summary, a dynamic and holis-tic picture of time is essential to bothwisdom and heightened future con-sciousness. To see the whole and tosee evolutionary change across timeimplies that neither wisdom norfuture consciousness is narrowlylocked into the immediate here andnow. Like future consciousness, wis-dom stretches outward in space andtime and then tries to pull everythingtogether.

Comparing Wisdom and FutureConsciousness

When we compare the nature of wisdom and the nature of futureconsciousness, there may appear to be a difference in emphasis regard-ing temporal awareness. Wisdom brings the lessons of the past to theproblems and challenges of todayand tomorrow; heightened futureconsciousness sees patterns across

“Great discoveries and im-provements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may begiven credit for having blazed the trail, but when Ilook at the subsequent developments I feel the creditis due to others rather thanto myself.”

Alexander Graham Bell

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“Judgment comes from ex-perience, and experiencecomes from bad judgment.”

Simon Bolivar

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with wise people. Wisdom includesthe ability to make good decisions indifficult situations; it is being able tomake thoughtful decisions and act insituations where others may becomeparalyzed or react impulsively. Simi-larly with heightened future con-sciousness, a person must make de-cisions in order to realize futuregoals and to initiate purposeful be-havior; indecisiveness is a classicway to attempt to avoid the future.

The Importance of Hope

Neither wisdom nor future con-sciousness can be adequately under-stood apart from emotion and desire.The future is felt; it is not just thought

or imagined. A purely cognitive orintellectual description of either wis-dom or future consciousness is notonly empty, but also psychologicallyunrealistic. A person’s emotionalstate can greatly amplify or severelyreduce his or her cognitive capaci-ties.

problems and do so very effectively.The principles of critical thinking,such as clarity, precision, relevance, breadth, and depth, are essential as-pects of wisdom, and these thinkingskills are equally important inheightened future consciousness.

These critical thinking skills needto be balanced by Eastern theories of wisdom that stress insight and intu-ition as essential qualities of wisdom.I would describe insight or intuitionas the capacity to understand some-thing in a holistic and immediatefashion; to perceive the meaning of afact or idea as a totality, all at once.Linear thinking, conversely, is reach-ing an understanding of somethingin logical steps.

Following a balanced model of cognition (synthesizing Eastern and

Western emphases), a wise personideally shows a solid integration of linear rational thought and intuitiveinsight. Wisdom brings to bear onlife the full gamut of cognitive capac-ities. In describing heightened futureconsciousness, the same point can bemade.

Although logic and rationality areimportant cognitive strengths,heightened future consciousnessmust possess a good dose of creativ-ity and imagination. Future con-sciousness involves thinking aboutpossibilities—being able to imaginemany different possibilities and not just one or two. Future consciousnessalso involves flexibility and open-ness to the future. Wisdom is alsonoted for its creative dimension:Wise people can find solutions topractical problems that stymie mostpeople because wise people canthink outside of the mind-sets thatlimit the thinking of other people.

Both wisdom and heightenedfuture consciousness exhibit en-

hanced problem-solving abilities. Toface the future honestly and openlyis to realize that there are innumer-able difficulties confronting us, indi-vidually and collectively. Life is anunavoidable challenge, and so is thefuture. An unwillingness to acknowl-edge or address problems is a classicway to try to avoid the future—it isalso a classic form of foolishness, theantithesis of wisdom.

Decision making is another signifi -cant cognitive capacity connected

future consciousness.There is an openness of conscious-

ness in both wisdom and heightenedfuture consciousness, so a personwith this capacity can see and em- brace the mysterious and unknown.

The Uses of Wisdom and FutureConsciousness

Wisdom is not simply broad andexpansive theoretical knowledge; itincludes the capacity to apply thattheoretical knowledge to practicalpurposes. Wisdom allows us to make better informed choices, be fore-warned regarding potential dangers,and take advantage of emergingtrends. Thinking about the future is,

arguably, the most practical thing wecan do, since we are going to spendthe rest of our lives in the future.Surely, it is better to be prepared forthe future than to naïvely walk intoit blindly. Wisdom and heightenedfuture consciousness have a strongpractical dimension.

Wisdom necessarily involves goodthinking skills. (It is oxymoronic totalk about a “thoughtless wiseperson”!) In reality, wise peoplethink constantly about life and its

“The empires of the futureare the empires of themind.”

Winston Churchill

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“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is trueknowledge.”

Nicholas Copernicus

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others, an exhilaration in learningand thinking, and a generalizedsense of happiness and well-beingconnected with the exercise and pur-suit of wisdom.

Heightened future consciousnessalso includes curiosity and wonder—at least with respect to the future—and in general is associated withpsychological well-being.

Character Virtues and FutureConsciousness

The development of character vir-tues is key to the enhancement of future consciousness. To be sure,heightened future consciousness in-volves cognitive features, such as a broad understanding of past, pres-ent, and future; good imagination

and thinking skills; and the capacityto apply knowledge to practical chal-lenges and problems. But in addi-tion, there is an ethical and characterdimension that supports, structures,fuels, and gives direction to thesecognitive capacities.

positive outcomes for life’s chal-lenges and act with a sense of self-efficacy in solving practical prob-lems. They feel neither helpless norhopeless.

Responsibility for Our Own Future

Responsibility for ourselves andothers and its connection with hopeleads us to the topic of how charactervirtues connect with wisdom andheightened future consciousness.

Self-responsibility is a key charac-ter virtue that is necessary for height-ened future consciousness. Self-responsibility means that we feelresponsible (at least to a significantdegree) for our own future and wealso feel that we have the requiredself-efficacy—the ability to realize

our goals. Cultivating self-responsibility generates hope (positive feel-ings about the future), optimism, andan expansive, rich consciousness of the future; the reverse mind-set gen-erates helplessness, depression, anda closed and limited sense of thefuture.

Self-responsibility stimulates hu-man effort and mobilizes our ener-gies. Without this character virtue,there is little effort, little purpose,little tenacity, and little discipline inlife. Instead, the motivation support-ing future consciousness—the deter-mination and follow-through re-quired for the real iza t ion of goals—simply collapses.

Hence, heightened future con-sciousness provides an emotional base of hope and optimism plus amotivational component of determi-nation and purpose aimed at realiz-ing one’s goals.

The virtues of courage and loveare also intimately tied to the emo-tional and motivational dimensions

of heightened future consciousnessand wisdom. Courage is needed toface one’s fears, including fear of thefuture, about which we can know solittle. Love is also needed to bringenergy to life. Without love for some-thing, what is the point of thinkingabout the future or of aspiringtoward anything? A love of life andof others provides guidance for wis-dom, because love involves the emo-tional-motivational qualities of curi-osity and wonder, empathy for

Hope and fear are two of the most basic human emotions, and both per-tain to the future. With hope there isan anticipation of something posi-tive, and with fear there is an antici-pation of something negative. Fearserves important psychological func-tions, such as triggering caution inthe face of danger, but if a person’sconsciousness is ruled by fear, his orher life is severely constrained. An-ticipating nothing but negative pos-sibilities inhibits both thought andaction, generates pessimism, and ef-fectively shuts down future con-sciousness.

Hope, on the other hand, fostersoptimism, courage, and enhancedthinking and imagination. Conse-quently, a sense of hope for thefuture is an essential element of

heightened future consciousness. Weare literally able to think better if weare hopeful rather than fearful.

As has been frequently pointedout, optimism and pessimism are both self-fulfilling prophecies. If wewish to realize a positive future, weneed to be hopeful and optimistic.Likewise, to enhance future con-sciousness in others, we need to helpthem develop hope.

Wise people are hopeful as well.They believe that there are potential

“Real wealth is ideas plusenergy.”

R. Buckminster Fuller

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“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the presentare certain to miss thefuture.”

John F. Kennedy

ADAPTED FROM JOHN F. KENNEDYPRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

continued on page 40




Benjamin Franklin’s Future ConsciousnessNo one in history exhibited the

virtues of future consciousness andwisdom more perfectly than Benja-min Franklin.

“Gifted with foresight—indeed akind of seer—he made remarkablyfew bad decisions, although oftenfaced with momentous choices,”reported Kenneth Silverman of New York University in a recent in -troduction to Franklin’s famedautobiography.

Literary critic Jonathan Yardleyof the Washington Post concurs:Franklin, says Yardley, was preter-naturally wise! His astute judgment

enabled him to succeed at almosteverything he undertook—busi-ness, journalism, science, inven-tion, diplomacy, and politics. Healso sought obsessively to elevatethe wisdom of others by offeringastute advice to readers of his pop-ular publication Poor Richard’s Al-manack. His pithy maxims—oftenin rhyme, such as “Early to bed,early to rise, makes a man healthy,wealthy, and wise”—remain popu-lar to this day. Just two years ago, asingle copy sold for more than half a million dollars.

As for future consciousness,Franklin’s talents as a futurist ap-pear most clearly in a 1780 letter to Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.

“The rapid progress true sciencenow makes occasions my regrettingsometimes that I was born so soon,”Franklin wrote. “It is impossible toimagine the height to which may becarried, in a thousand years, thepower of man over matter.

“We may perhaps learn to de-prive large masses of their gravity,and give them absolute levity, forthe sake of easy transport. Agricul-ture may diminish its labor anddouble its produce; all diseasesmay by sure means be preventedor cured, not excepting even that of old age, and our lives lengthenedat pleasure even beyond the ante-diluvian standard. O that moral

has been considerable progress to-ward a more humane society. Slav-ery was a generally acceptedinstitution in 1780, but today it has been abolished in most nations.

On a personal note, I learnedseveral of Franklin’s adages earlyin life, and when I was a little boyone of them enabled me to win adispute with the proprietor of acandy store.

The proprietor had given me apenny less in change than I felt Iwas due, so I protested.

“It’s only a penny,” the propri-etor assured me.

“A penny saved is a pennyearned!” I chirped, whereupon theproprietor immediately concededdefeat and surrendered the penny.Franklin had won the day for me.

In later life, however, I decidedthat Franklin’s adage was not quiteright: A penny saved is actuallyworth more than a penny earned because the government taxes sav-ings, not earnings. As Franklinsaid, “Nothing is certain but deathand taxes.” — Edward Cornish

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science were in a fair way of im-provement that men would ceaseto be wolves to one another, andthat human beings would atlength learn what they now im-properly call humanity.”

Franklin’s notion that peoplewould one day be able to “deprivelarge masses of their gravity” hasnot come to pass in the literalsense, though there continues to be speculation about antigravitymachines. On the other hand, air-planes and spacecraft have en-abled humans to overcome the ef-fects of gravity, so Franklin might

be said to have been right in themain.Agriculture has improved far

more than Franklin dared to hope.During his time, about 90% of theU.S. population worked on farms;today, the efficiency of agriculturehas improved so astoundingly inthe past two centuries that onlyabout 5% or less of the populationis now devoted to agriculture.

Diseases that caused terrible suf -fering in Franklin’s day havelargely disappeared or can betreated effectively. As a result,people today now live far health-ier and longer lives. The dreamof immortality remains unreal-ized, but scientists are gettingcloser and closer to a funda-mental understanding of se-nescence; once that isachieved, effective antiag-ing treatments may al-low humans to livemore or less indefi-nitely, barring misad-

ventures.As Franklin feared,peop le have no tceased to treat eachother abominably.Since his day, man’sinhumanity to manhas led to poisongas, atomic bomb-ings, and deathcamps. Still, there




manity and not just oneself.

Multiple Virtues Needed forWisdom

Throughout history, wisdom has been seen as one of the most impor-tant human virtues—a character traitthat synthesizes a number of quali-ties that support the capacity tomake intelligent and informed ethi-cal decisions about the future. Fur-thermore, wisdom requires a varietyof other character virtues in order to be realized.

Wisdom requires the virtue of hon-

esty and the value of truth if one isto seek knowledge and learn aboutlife. Wisdom requires courage, for, asmany contemporary wisdom re-searchers have pointed out, the wiseperson recognizes his or her own fal-libility and the irreducible element of uncertainty in life. Action is an es-sential part of wisdom—informedand thoughtful action in the face of humility and uncertainty. Wisdomalso requires love and compassion,for wisdom seeks holistic benefits

A virtue is a value that is lived. Forexample, the value of truth, if prac-ticed, leads to honesty and integrityas character virtues, and the value of freedom and self-determinationleads to self-responsibility as a char-acter virtue.

Philosophers, as well as psycholo-gists, have argued that the goodlife—a life of happiness, meaning,purpose, and mental health—is real-ized through the development of keycharacter virtues, such as courage,honesty, love and compassion, and,notably, wisdom.

Creating a positive and evolvingfuture for oneself and for others en-tails a key set of character virtues.The ones that I have most frequently

listed are self-responsibility, disci-pline and commitment, transcen-dence, courage, hope and optimism,love, temperance/balance, and wis-dom.

Each of these virtues contributes toan enhanced understanding of thefuture and/or an enhanced capacityfor creating a positive future. For ex-ample, since the future is to a degreeuncertain, courage is necessary in or-der to face future possibilities andact on goals. Without courage, one becomes cognitively and behavior-ally paralyzed in the past or present.Without self-responsibility, one seesoneself as a victim and incapable of influencing the future. Without hopeand optimism, one becomes de-pressed, which is basically a failureof future consciousness. Withouttranscendence, one cannot identifywith anything beyond oneself andwill not contribute to the future bet-terment of humanity. A holistic andsocially conscious conception of heightened future consciousness in-

volves the desire and capacity tocontribute to the future benefit of hu-

IntegrativeThinking and the

FutureWhen author Tom Lombardo

became the chair of the psy-chology and philosophy de-partments at Rio Salado Collegein Tempe, Arizona, he was putin charge of Integrative Studies,the capstone course for the as-sociate degree.

Integrative Studies could fo-cus on whatever theme hechose, “as long as the themesomehow pulled together the bre adth of underg raduate

courses, especially sciences andhumanities.”But Lombardo couldn’t de-

cide on a theme until one daywhen he was at a grocery store.

“As I was waiting in line Istarted browsing through thepaperback bookstand in check-out and noticed that Alvin Tof-fler, author of the highly popu-lar book Future Shock, which Ihad read back in the 1970s, hada new book out called Power-shift. In a flash it hit me! Whynot do the Integrative Studiescourse on the future? Most if not all of the main areas of study in an undergraduate col-lege program could be ad-dressed and synthesized in thecontext of the future. Creating acourse on the future would bean interesting and challengingendeavor, and of great value forstudents. Shouldn’t we all tryto think and understand thefuture? So I charged into the

subject and constructed acourse on the future.”Lombardo’s experience illus-

trates the very principles of ap-plied wisdom, or heightenedfuture consciousness: to think holistically and be open to ideasand optimistic about the future,imaginative in developinggoals, and responsible in takingaction.

—Edward Cornish

“The difference between what we do and what weare capable of doing wouldsuffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”

Mohandas K. Gandhi

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“The universe is transfor-mation; our life is what ourthoughts make it.”

Marcus Aurelius

continued from page 38




At a motivational-emotional level,wisdom involves curiosity, wonder,and a hopeful and optimistic engage-ment with reality; compassion andempathy for others; and a sense of happiness or well-being associatedwith the pursuit and use of wisdom.

At the virtue and ethical level, wis-dom involves the application of knowledge, guided by values andethics, to realize well-being both foroneself and for others. Wisdom issupported by other virtues, such ascourage, honesty and integrity, fair-mindedness, compassion for others,humility, optimism, and reverencefor life. Wisdom is ethical thinking.

Finally, at the personal or character

level, wisdom involves a synthesis of heart and mind. There is a sense of connection between the self andother people, human society as awhole, nature, and the cosmos. Wis-dom implies exceptional self-aware-ness and the capacity for self-reflec-tion; there is self-transcendence andan ongoing movement away fromthe egocentric.

On a majority of these points, astrong case can be made that thesepsychological features should be in-

self-narrative of his or her life, asense of transcendence beyond thepast and present develops.

Wisdom, too, is associated withheightened self-awareness and self-reflection, the capacity for self-tran-scendence and the widening outfrom the egocentric, and a sense of connection with other people, na-ture, society, and the cosmos. Thewise person is able to see himself orherself in the context of the whole.The journey of the self is defined inthe context of the journey of thewhole.

Wise people have an overall senseof purpose and direction in life—afuture focus—and this quality linesup with one of the central definingqualities of mental health. In fact,two of the six most important quali-

ties of mental health are (1) purposeand direction and (2) a sense of on-going growth. Two other importantqualities of mental health connectwith self-responsibility and self-effi-cacy: environmental mastery andcontrol, and a sense of autonomy or being able to make decisions. Hence,at least four of the personality traitsassociated with mental health arealso associated with wisdom andheightened future consciousness.

Summarizing the Qualities ofWisdom

At the cognitive and consciousnesslevels, wisdom includes an integra-tive and expansive capacity to seethe big picture, global and cosmic,and understand the connectednessof things. There is temporal expan-siveness—an ever evolving synthesisof past and future and a capacity tosee the long-term consequences of things. Yet, wisdom is also a highlydeveloped practical ability, applying

general knowledge to concrete prob-lems and challenges in life.Wisdom combines excellent think-

ing skills with other modes of under-standing, such as insight or intuition.Wisdom is open to the world andmultiple points of view. It is in-formed by contemporary scientifictheory. It is a self-stimulating, dy-namic, evolving, and contingent sys-tem of knowledge, driven by ques-tions, uncertainty, hope, and apassion for learning and thinking.

rather than simply self-serving ends.Hence, an important connecting

link between wisdom and height-ened future consciousness is the di-mension of virtue—of ethical charac-ter traits that give strength and apositive quality to both wisdom andheightened future consciousness.

Effect on Personality

Heightened future consciousnessimpacts an individual’s total person-ality or character. People are in facttransformed by an enhanced aware-ness of the future. The sense of self is broadened and strengthened, as isthe optimistic visualization of goalsand purpose and direction of one’slife. A feeling of freedom (self-empowerment) and a sense of possibili ties for oneself emerge. Thoughthe individual is connected into the

“If we are to achieve aricher culture, rich in con-trasting values, we mustrecognize the whole gamutof human potentialities,and so weave a less arbi-trary social fabric, one in which each diverse humangift will find a fitting place.”

Margaret Mead

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“Knowledge of what is pos-sible is the beginning of happiness.”

George Santayana

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given my theory of future conscious-ness—wisdom will be at the core aswell.

If we are to consider what qualitiesneed to be enhanced to constitute areal step forward in human evolu-tion, then the combination of quali-ties embodied in wisdom (or height-ened future consciousness) clearlyprovides an appropriate ideal andevolutionary direction. I intention-ally place together the notions of theideal and evolution, since humanevolution in the future will increas-ingly be guided purposefully by hu-man ideals. ❑

About the AuthorTom Lombardo is the authorof The Evolution of Future Consciousness and Con-

temporary Futurist Thought (both AuthorHouse, 2008) . He is director of the Centerfor Future Consciousness

(www.centerforfutureconsciousness.com)and retired faculty chair of psychology andphilosophy at Rio Salado College in Tempe,Arizona. E-mail [email protected].

An earlier version of this article was pub-lished in the World Future Society’s 2009conference volume, Innovation and Creativ- ity in a Complex World.

edge and psychology mirrors a moreencompassing trend in the evolutionof life. With human sentience ex-panding in both space and time, wewould expect that future conscious-ness should also expand in thefuture.

Many philosophers and futuristsanticipate a significant jump in thecollective mental functioning of hu-manity in the relatively near future.Some writers have described thisnew surge as a collective enlighten-ment. This leap forward in our un-derstanding of both our past and ourfuture could be seen as an adaptiveresponse to dealing more effectivelywith our increasingly complex andfast-paced world. Alternatively, itcould be seen as an expression of thepredictable upward beat of human

evolution. Perhaps it is both. A thirdpossibility, not incompatible with thefirst two, is that accelerative techno-logical growth is pulling humanityto a new level of mental functioning.Technological augmentation andmodification will transform us.

Whatever the causes of a new en-lightenment, I believe that height-ened future consciousness will be acore feature of it, which means that—

cluded in a definition of heightenedfuture consciousness as well. Wis-dom is an appropriate and inspiringideal to which one should aspire inthe holistic development of futureconsciousness.

To summarize, I believe thatheightened future consciousnessaligns with wisdom in the followingways:

1. Both are psychologically holisticcapacities.

2. Both involve a fundamental setof character virtues that define andfacilitate excellence in all the majorpsychological dimensions.

3. Both are connected with psycho-logical well-being; an optimistic,hopeful, and constructive attitude;and a self-efficacious and self-responsible belief in the capacity to

create positive outcomes in life.4. Both involve an open, evolution -ary, and expansive consciousness of reality and time.

A New Enlightenment?

Our understanding of both theevents of the past and the possibili-ties of the future is constantly im-proving. This trend in human knowl-

Listen to WorldFuture 2010!The World Future Society’s 2010 conference is over, but if you missed asession or just want to keep a permanent record of the event, you may

order your own audio!

World Future Society partner IntelliQuest Media offers botha full-conference multimedia CD-ROM, including all

available presentation materials, and downloadablemp3s for individual sessions.

Sample sessions include:

• Building the Human Mind, Ray Kurzweil

• Technology Futures and Their Massive PotentialSocietal Impacts, Dennis Bushnell

• The Unemployment Conundrum, Arnold Brownand Edie Weiner

• The Future of Faith: Conflict or Creativity? Jay Gary,Harvey Cox, and Todd Johnson

To order, visit www.intelliquestmedia.com or call IntelliQuest Mediatoll free at 866-651-2586.


Documents

Wisdom Facing Forward w Fs Aug 2010