“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer

The Visionary Mind is not just a continually learning mind, but a mind not organized around psychological positions. Anyone can continually learn within the walls of their positions. The Nazi, the Roman Catholic, the Jew, the Environmentalist, the Rush Limbaugh Dittohead, the Marxist, the Dove, the Hawk, the Randian and the Patriot can all be continual learners, whose learning merely fortifies their existing positions. What marks the visionary mind is the quality of continual evolution, more than just continual learning.

And in these times of drastic change, it is the continually learning and evolving visionaries who shall not just inherit the future, they shall create it.

No matter your values, your beliefs, your cause or your level of learnedness, if your strength comes from your position, you will become less and less powerful to create the kind of life and world that will further your highest values and everyone else’s. It is your commitment and ability to evolve beyond your well-fortified positions and live from a dynamic stand that will empower you to create the kind of future that will really work for you and for all of us.

What we are talking about here is a complete yet subtle paradigm shift, one that we begin to explore in our free Visionary Mind Shifts course by email. It’s a paradigm shift, which is further rooted and explored with our Visionary Mind home study program, and deeply experienced inside of our 4-day intensives.

Talk, talk, talk and more talk. Everyone talks about change. Like the armchair quarterbacks, they’re usually talking from the sidelines of life, gossipping, criticizing and complaining about what everyone else is doing or not doing. Yet there are two main differences between the armchair quarterback watching football and a well-meaning person being a spectator in today’s world.

1) We’re all in this game called life. Everyone is a player, like it or not; yet so much of our team is on the sidelines, watching, cheering, whining, commenting on those who are on the field.  Can you imagine a football team where most of the team is not just “on the bench,” but at home watching the game on TV? Can you imagine a team whose players don’t dare even play? They might contribute some money or vote on team decisions, but when it comes time to get down and dirty and play… they’re nowhere to be found. Except you.  You’re here to play, and you cannot deny it.  Life lived from the sidelines would be death for you.

2) The armchair quarterback acts as if his yelling at the TV will make a difference, yet there is nothing he can do to affect the results of the game.  We, as human beings in the game of life, often act as if our ideas or our voice won’t make a difference, yet everything we choose to do or not do affects the results of the game.

The game clock is ticking…  A mulititude of crises threaten our children’s future…  Everything we value is on the line…

Are you on the field?

VisionForce is looking for 30 hungry change agents to come play in the championship game of life.  Apply here to be one of them.  For more details about our “training camp,” go here.

How can you see what your “enemy” is saying at such a level that you have the power to call them to stand with you?  This seemingly impossible task is not only possible, it’s quite simple.

Here at Vision Force, and inside of Visionary Mind Shifts, we make the distinction between a position and a stand.  If you’re still struggling to grasp this distinction, think of it this way… underneath every position is a stand.

Consider that every single person, even your enemies who you think you understand, are heroic human beings standing for their values.  Now, you may totally disagree with how they are going about standing for their values, and you probably judge them for it.  Your position is that they are wrong, immoral, evil, selfish or (insert your label here).  From this position, you cannot see them as human beings, and they cannot see you.  To protect themselves from your judgments, they form and protect judgments of their own–they form and maintain their own position, from which they cannot see you.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, your power to create the best results is severely limited, because you lack the kind of vision that could make all the difference.

The key in us being able to move forward individually with powerful vision AND in us being able to co-create with the other side lies in our ability to so clearly see the others’ stand that we are deeply moved by it.  As we are moved and come from this place, the other side feels seen and then can open up to see us as well.  From this place “miracles” can happen, where previously compromise was the best alternative.

It’s a subtle yet incredibly powerful distinction and understanding it is not what makes the difference.  Successfully applying it makes the difference.  You must experience what it is like to first see the positions you didn’t even realize you had, then break through them and then experience the kind of vision that happens as a result.  That level of visionary training is not going to be found in leadership workshops, self-help programs, wealth mindset courses or any such thing.

You will find this revolutionary training is powerfully provided at Vision Force’s iStand Experience, otherwise known as the Vision Force Boot Camp.

At this very moment, Vision Force is searching for 30 to “be the ones” to walk a new path and lead the way for humanity.  If you think this might be you, apply here:

We tell our children to dream, but what the world today and tomorrow needs is much more than children with dreams.  We need children with vision.  Just the same, our children need more than good parents with dreams.  Today’s and tomorrow’s children need great parents with vision.

A dream, like a dangling carrot in front of a donkey, can be enough to have a visionless person keep moving forward, obeying orders and following the system from one moment to the next.

But what if the systems we’re following are not working?  And what if the leaders we’re following have little vision?

Shall we just keep dreaming and being “good,” comforming to the prevailing systems?

Shall we just keep dreaming and being “good,” while blaming the system’s failure on those who are not being “good” and conforming, assuming that we just need to give our non-conforming children ( or students, citizens, employees, etc.) more Ritalin or more punishment?

Shall we just keep “dreaming” and conforming to the system, while blaming the “leaders” for not fixing the system?

Shall we each just keep pretending we have “the answer,” know “the truth” of a situation or see “the solution?”  Everyone has an opinion (and in a free system everyone has a voice), but few with an opinion have vision.

Democracy for visionless people of different blind faiths is a formula for civil war and destruction.  For a free society to function now and in the future, it needs free thinkers, not blind followers.

Consider that it is no longer enough for us to tolerate each others’ faiths.  Instead it is time for each of us to rise to the level of vision.  Every person of faith can rise to the level of vision, and at the level of vision a person of faith only becomes more virtuous, conscious, humane, tolerant, peaceful, prosperous and integrous at the level of vision.

Without vision, the good person of faith in a free society can only tolerate others and compromise with them.  Those who object to compromise on principle or in faith, resort to forming a self-righteous position with respect to others.

“If only everyone would see things my way and comform to the solutions I can clearly see would work.”  Such is the thinking of a person, who lacking vision, must cling self-righteously to his position (conclusions about what is true, what is right and what to do).

The world needs more than good followers with dreams and more than tolerant people with faith, we need each person to rise to the level of vision–to be great leaders of themselves, who think freely, honestly and openly, and who easily co-create with others.
Goodness has long been interpreted as that behavior which fits within the “good” or prevailing system or that which follows the “great” visionary leader of the time.  But what happens when the systems are failing and our leaders lack the vision to revolutionize those systems?  Is goodness good enough?
Radical change and evolution is the way of the future, and surviving in that future is going to require that we all shift our thinking and evolve from conforming to become “good,” “responsible” citizens, parents, children, employees, etc., to evolving to become great visionary leaders.  Each of us?  Each of us.

Every mother can be a visionary mother.  Every teacher can be a visionary teacher.  Every person can function at the level of vision, develop their natural visionary mind and live a visionary life.
This shift from dreams to vision, from goodness to greatness, is a shift in consciousness.  It’s time for each of us to make the shift, and for those who are ready to leap–apply to attend this event.

What does it mean to live your life from a stand?  How do people who try to stand for something fall into the trap of forming a position, from which they lose their vision, passion, compassion and power to cause the kind of change they intended?  What does it mean to live a visionary life–to think, speak and operate from a place of authentic power?

Embark on this journey inside of our Visionary Mind Shifts program, and continue it with the Visionary Mind home study program, an experiential program of self-inquiry and visionary thinking.
Then if you’re ready to be the visionary change agent that the future requires, then go learn how you can be part of the emerging One Million Visionary Campaign and possibly be one of 30 visionaries to lead the way in 2007.

What if One Million Visionaries took a stand for humanity? And what if they each had the wisdom, power and skills to create a world that worked for everyone?

Several Vision Force Boot Camp graduates have been asking these questions after experiencing the power of the Vision Force methods. The result? A non-profit initiative called the One Million Visionaries campaign.

It’s being launched this spring in conjunction with the next Vision Force Boot Camp. If you’d like to receive more info about how you can be one of 30 impassioned change agents in attendance, get on this list.

Listen to a recent audio interview with 2 Vision Force Boot Camp graduates, Claude Johnson and John Matterson.

MP3 File