Vision and Celebrate

Various forms of guided imagery can be used to develop a collective vision of the desired future for a territory of life and its custodian community. Beyond Fences Vol. 2 describes the purpose, key steps, and strengths and drawbacks of guided imagery, noting that it “is, in essence, a trip into the future. Participants should be familiar with the present state of the environment and society they are imagining in the future. This environment should have clear boundaries so that all participants visualize the same territory… Guided imagery encourages participants to think in terms of the future, unconstrained by what is in place in the present. In other forms of planning exercises, groups may miss a vision of what “could be” by focusing on their immediate interests. Engaging in a deliberate exercise of imagining a world “fit for our children” helps people to overcome this focus on personal and short-term interests. The facilitator should stress that people may indeed come up with wishful thinking but that this is exactly what the exercise is intended to produce: a vision for the future which may or may not be attainable in the lifetime of the participants, but is desirable for future generations. The specific objectives established in the second phase of the exercise should be, in contrast, attainable and measurable targets.” (Read more at Borrini-Feyerabend with Buchan 1997:145-146)