We don't see or hear about Vision and numerous visionaries because they are not popular. They are not popular because they are not publicized. When a culture rides on the air of nihilism, terror and fear employing their cousins of complaining, bitching and whining about our problems, it's not surprising that we often decry, "Where are our visionaries?"

HopeDance for the past six years has been offering various hues of visions along with solutions, inspirational actions and positive-future thrustings. In a world where people's antennae are not focused on visions, it doesn't mean they do not exist. Also, now that Mr. Bush and Company have become instrumental in creating almost single-handedly the current anti-war movement, it is not surprising that voices are now demanding Visions rather than simply shouting a very loud and necessary "No!"

If people had been paying attention to our cultural debacle and our government's own terrorist foreign policies for decades, they may not be demanding vision as quickly as they are trying to stop a war that has not even started. Movements come and go and they usually are topical, momentary and glamorous.

What is truly needed are stamina, perseverance, forbearance and some studious and patient agendas for restructuring our psychic and economic "realities." We cannot be won over with simple chants and very logical and rational slogans. What if the Bush coup d'état team backed off because of popular opinion (which as of this writing doesn't appear to be happening, even with the millions of protestors in the street)? Would the anti-war momentum be lost? You bet. But the real struggle with social justice, gender inequities, the health insurance debacle, pollution, globalization, transnational corporate media and the plethora of other problems will remain and there will not be marches in the street to combat them. Unfortunately the same people who have dedicated their lives to solving these problems before the current necessary mobilization of progressive forces will remain when the anti-war movement dies down. Right now, with so much immediate enthusiastic vigor seen in the almost-thirty-million people in the streets over the weekend of Feb. 15 and 16th, it is difficult to offer suggestions of a broader and more comprehensive vision.

It is with hope that the massive demonstrations will effect people's lives, livelihoods and purposes, not simply for us to return to our jobs in a culture that is inherently violent and full of daily terrorism. (I recall hearing Pulitzer Winning author Susan Griffin say that most of us are two paychecks away from being homeless. That, she said, is terrorism! Bodily, psychically and emotionally.)

We need to connect the dots in how we live to how inherently militaristic our culture really is. If we believe that our lifestyles are disconnected to that of an empire gone amok, then we are deluding ourselves. If we believe that our military is not the necessary strong arm of a machismo culture-identity due to a populace dead asleep to its consequences of its daily behavior then we cannot really win the "no war in Iraq" movement.

Visionaries:

Since this issue focuses on Vision to help us direct and align our energies, especially since the resistance or protest model may not be enough for people who are already well aware of the world's problems, it can be helpful to give a list of some of the visionary voices that the positive-future sustainable-future-world movement aligns with.

Wendell Berry, Dalai Lama, Vandana Shiva, Bill Mollison, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Starhawk, Paul Hawken, William McDonough, Barbara Kingslover, Kevin Danaher, the winners of the Right Livelihood Awards (often called the alternative Nobel Prize), Teddy Goldsmith, Satish Kumar, Andrew Kimbrell, Alice Waters, Wes Jackson, Fritjof Capra, David Orr, Morag Gamble, Kirkpatrick Sale.

For more visionaries click to http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/Teachers/Directory.html, www.bioneers.org; http://www.rightlivelihood.se/.