Hear the “news?” John Kerry (who ate breakfast a few tables over from me at the Four Seasons in Austin Sunday morning) makes a joke intended to slam Bush, Republicans slam Kerry, Kerry slams back…

When will the day come? How long will it be before we have visionaries as leaders? In some respects each man may be a visionary, but when will we all stop thinking, speaking and acting like positionaries? All it does is cause more of the same from the other side. This back and forth bickering, battling for positions, wastes all of our time… and our tax money. Perhaps worst is it sets an example for all of us, an example that says acting this way is socially acceptable.

Is this normal behavior for adults? For leaders? Here’s my prediction… America’s next president will be much more a visionary, and much less a positionary. America is tired of the positionary-think, demonstrated by most politicians. It’s based on fear, blame, pride, manipulation and propaganda.

Barack Obama from what I have seen speaks more more like a visionary than a positionary. Could he be America’s next president? Anyone who can communicate as a visionary, rather than a positionary, has an advantage I think. What do you think?

Post your comments.

You imagine that your neighbor might be a fearless terrorist, secretly planning to destroy the world as you know it. He might be operating inside an independent terrorist cell that is virtually undetectable. He might have a plan to cause great destruction in the community you inhabit. He might have access to all the tools, ideas and resources that he needs to achieve his mission.

Now imagine this. Your neigbor might be a fearless visionary, secretly planning to create a world that really works for all of us–a world of peace and prosperity. He might be operating inside an independent visionary cell that is virtually undetectable. He might have a plan to create incredible values for your community. He might have access to all the tools, ideas and resources that he needs to achieve his mission.

Such a visionary cell has just emerged in war-torn Uganda. One fearless, young visionary has been not-so-secretly planning to create a future that really works for his countrymen and for humanity. He’s been operating autonomously, rapidly growing the number of people who are working with him, both locally in Uganda and globally through the internet. He has a plan, and he’s carrying it out. Now, VisionForce has chosen to give him access to all the tools, ideas and resources he needs to achieve his mission.

Check out our VisionForce Uganda project here.

Together, we’re busy figuring out a model that will be easily replicatable and sustainable. We intend to cultivate the spontaneous emergence of visionary cells around the globe–in China, India, Lebanon, Israel, Iran, Cuba, Africa, Brazil, Japan–everywhere there are youth who are willing to stand for humanity. Never before has the future been so solidly within the grasp of the youth!

What can you see is possible? Leave your comments, please!

Watch >> this video << about a stand that American youth are taking. They're saying, "Sir! No Sir!" to the army recruiters. For what are they standing? Whether you support the war in Iraq or not, can you see what this group is standing for?

One of the things we tend to do in taking a stand that requires great courage is make the other side inhumane. We humiliate the other side and our stand becomes a position that keeps the other side from listening to what you have to say. What are your thoughts on this?

Part of the video is from the Sir No Sir documentary about the largely forgotten military personnel who organized against the Vietnam War. Bush and Clinton found ways to dodge the draft. My father entered dental school. Were these men cowards? What about those who went AWOL? Were their actions dishonorable? Or was there something for which they were standing that was very honorable?

And those who enlisted and fought–were they too not standing for something worthwhile? Whether you agree with the Iraq War and the Vietnam War… don’t you agree that it’s time we find new ways to communicate and resolve our differences at home and abroad? Watch the video(s), then leave your comments. Thanks!

We need your advice.

If you’ve been following VisionForce for long, you know we’re asking some pretty radical questions that are throwing all previous “common sense” out the window. One big question we asked is how can we get the most powerful tools in the hands of those most ready for it–for as close to free as possible–and now!? In other words, we don’t want money to be a barrier to change agents and visionaries around the world having access to everything we can offer them.

That has led us to start creating free on-line courses, removing the fee from our membership area (and a ton of things we’ve not revealed yet. Now, if we’re going to do so much for free, how are we going to continue to exist? Money is the blood of the VisionForce organism. We need it to not just survive, but to grow massively.

So, we’ve been thinking, “Well, we’ll train people for free in as many ways as we can, and those who want to pay for a physical product or attend a high-level live training can pay us.” So, recently we removed the discount from our new physical home study program, Visionary Mind, and listed it at the regular price of $297. And we feel good about this, because it is such an extensive, valuable program. But, we’re left with this question:

Does this create a barrier for many people? Yes. It does. In the future we’ll have other physical products that we can let go for a lot less–books, for example. But right now, we think we need to just get it in the hands of as many people as possible. How can we do that? Well, maybe lowering the price–radically–could be a way. That’s just a hypothesis, though. Lower prices don’t always translate to more sales.

One business approach to pricing would be to tally the costs and add enough for a profit. Another approach would be to charge as much as the market will bear–based on the products’ perceived value and how much we can increase that perception of value. We’re asking a different question. What does the price need to be to have you “own” VisionForce as something you eagerly share with others and something you also invest in financially with your pocket book?

If the price were a lot lower, would you buy (if you haven’t already)? What would that price have to be? Would you buy for your friends or family? For your teenage son or daughter (oh, watch out if you do this though)?

We need cash to spread VisionForce throughout the world. Will lowering the price impact *your* decisions to help us–to spread the word, to buy, etc.? And what should the price be?

Please post your comments below. Thank you.

The Vision Force forums have just been released (shhhh… it’s kinda private, even though it’s the headline on our home page). We’re not doing much advertising yet as we’re still in “stealth mode!”

As smart as you are, you’ve probably guessed we’re up to something really big behind the scenes. Can’t fool you, can we? So, check it out, VisionForce is ramping up to facilitate what we see as the greatest shift in conscious thinking in history. Sounds a bit far out, I know. Still, that’s what we’re up to. The world needs drastic changes, and it starts with our thinking. With the shift in thinking that is already underway, tremors will soon be felt  through the fabric of society. Life as we know it is about to look radically different.

Our new forum area can handle mass quantities of people.  We’re starting fresh with no members and no posts–so there is a clean slate for us all. We’re nowhere near even done building the forum area, but in line with our new thinking here at VisionForce, we want YOU to help up us build it. We want the best and brightest, we want the visionary few (that’s you, right?).

For the time being, the boards are primary to be used as study rooms for our various courses. These are not the kind of forums you’ll find everywhere else on the internet. We’re asking every single person who plays here to have as their foremost focus in the forums to be their own personal evolution.

In other words, we are asking you to make “the shift” as you learn and help us create the shift. So, you should be conscious to make certain sub-shifts in your behavior. Here’s one such shift:

away from positionary posting >> towards visionary posting - from relating to new concepts as a threat to my paradigm >> towards new concepts as opportunities to upgrade my paradigm (or build a new one).

It’s characteristic of the Positionary Mind of the Past to filter new concepts and distinctions through what one already believes and then to show others (on forums) what’s incorrect about or missing from the new ideas. We see the usefulness of this in on-line forums that display little more than positionary arguments which do nothing but entrench people in the positions they already held (insert big sighing, eye rolling emoticon here).

Yes, you and I have a lot to share. Afterall, learning and self-development are a few of our highest values. And of course, we want people to see us in all our brilliance. Perhaps how we can best do that here is by being more willing than most to question our existing thinking and behaviours. The greater mark of wisdom will be how much we’re willing to question even the conclusions at which we’ve already arrived.

from displaying knowledge >> towards exercising wisdom

Socrates was considered wise, not primarily because of his ability to deconstruct others’ beliefs with his questioning, but because he never used that ability to assume or claim that he was right. He continually held his own understandings up for scrutiny and questioning.

In view of such inadequacies, Socrates himself professed his ignorance, but others still claimed to have knowledge. Socrates believed that his awareness of his ignorance made him wiser than those who, though ignorant, still claimed knowledge. Although this belief seems paradoxical at first glance, it in fact allowed Socrates to discover his own errors where others might assume they were correct. This claim was known by the anecdote of the Delphic oracular pronouncement that Socrates was the wisest of all men. Wikipedia

We encourage questioning of the new concepts and distinctions–that is part of the socratic method and a hallmark of any wise person. However, rather than focus being on protecting what we already know, showing others how smart we are our how well we can pick apart new concepts and distinctions–rather than by applying the socratic method outward on others–let’s focus first on what we can learn from the new concepts and distinctions–and apply the socratic method on ourselves!

This shift in thinking is part of our overall shift in consciousness from the Positionary Mind of the Past to the Visionary Mind of the Future.

(If, by slim chance, you happen to be reading this and you’d rather tell everyone how much you already know, well then, there are hundreds of thousands of on-line forum boards that would welcome you! For the rest of us, we’re up to leading the way to a whole new world in thinking and human behavior.)

With that in mind, enter the forums of self-inquiry–a haven for those of us who know that change happens first inside our own mind and heart.

People take their seats. It’s good vs. evil, evil vs. good, or evil vs. evil–depending on your position. As with any good matchup, everyone has an opinion. That’s what it is so exciting about life, right? To be visible, to be seen, to be acknowledged–and so we take a position and express it. We may not do it with words, yet we do it. We wear the colors of the team we favor, or at least we sit in their section… if nothing else, we have our critique of the other side, our inner Charles Barkley… or of the game itself.

But for our experience to truly be fun, for most of us, it needs to be psychologically safe. So what we need from our position is a good enough reason to make it ok to sit on the sidelines… or if we are on the field, we need a reason to be ok with dirty tactics. And a colorful enough critique of the game, of our opponents or of any who dare play will do. If they are all evil or foolish enough in our eyes, we’re safe on the sidelines (or safe playing dirty) and the game will be fun to watch.

Hot dogs!! Get your hot dogs here!!

It’s Chavez vs. Bush for the future of the world! The crowd roars! Each fan shouting their opinions, judgments, complaints–from their safe and confortable positions. The Bush supporters shout this, the Chavez supporters shout that, other sides are cheering and shouting… there are “We’re number one” foam fingers every where… and quite a few middle fingers to boot.
For from a position, not only are we seen, we are safe–comfortable. No, not from the attacks of others. It’s never about what others think of us, ultimately. It’s what we think of ourselves. The trick is we must limit who we listen to, because our critics might have us face the painful reality about ourselves. And so, we take a seat on the sidelines of life, content to watch as our world falls apart.

Sounds a bit gloomy, but think about it. You have criticisms of the other side. No doubt you’ve concluded a few things about their character. And from your position of judgment, you expect them to step forward from their position and cause the change you recommend? While you sit safely behind your own judgments, not daring to expose your humanity or see that of the other? The funny thing is how we get all worked up, angry, animated, frustrated… and we think we are taking a stand as we berate the other side and argue against their position. Allthewhile they can’t hear us. They hear only our judgment, and are thus validated in their own judgments of us.

Popcorn anyone?

Imagine, if all the American colonialists could have watched Patrick Henry deliver his famous speech via web cam:

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Our red coated friends from across the pond might have high tailed it back to their ships and sailed home without a fight.

Never before in history have we had so many powerful tools at our fingertips, tools which individuals can be use to communicate, organize, unite, mobilize, etc.  Never before have we had so much access to information and education.  People worry about technology’s ability to give governments’ greater control, but what about the new power and liberty such technology delivers to the individual?  I believe it far out paces the increasingly snoopy eye of the government.

Several in the VisionForce community have begun setting in motion plans to use tools such as video blogging to share their stories, their vision and the actions they’re taking to be the change they seek, and to change the world.

Imagine… training young people from China, Africa, India and all over the world in the ways of the visionary for free–straight from a web cam!  That and more is just around the corner.  Shhhhhh….