Acknowledging the importance of focusing on VISION as a key role for the 2nd Enlightenment movement is significant as:
1. It allows us to build on the learnings from the 1st Enlightenment, where it also began with visionary statements through writings that where made public and then brought into policies and reforms.
2. It is a key missing area that I am seeing in my international research which dives into a number of different sectors of society whether it be governmental, education, human rights, etc. In addition, this is often commented on that there is a need for a broader, more "bird's eye view", however, the work settings often do not provide the time and space for the visionary work.
3. It builds on our previous 2nd Enlightenment meetings, acknowledging the 2nd Enlightenment Movement to be about bringing the systems and the various processes together to have a fuller vision on how it all fits in together. To not just have integrated overall systems but also strategic enlightened systems.
Time seems to be a constraint for providing the necessary vision for enlightenment. There is an acknowledgement that vision is missing not just for enlightened actions but also for how they fit into other sectors of society or even other sectors within an institution.
There are a number of already really excellent initiatives that are being carried out, however, some of them can be blocked and/or not brought to their full realisation due to the lack of integration with other systems of society, therein lacking that overall vision and connection.
In thinking of the 2nd Enlightenment, what vision do you hold?
I doubt that the great figures of the first enlightenment realised that they were indeed creating a new enlightenment. In contrast, we are fully aware that we are trying to further the emerging second enlightenment. Then, it was individuals. Now it's lots of us; indeed the Extinction Rebellion has shown that it can be crowds!
We must ask, what was the darkness that had to become light? The 18th century saw the dogmas of the time; and overcame them with new understanding. What are the dogmas now? There are many; they were innovations then and have now become dogmatic orthodoxies; such as the belief that technical solutions solve our problems, that life can be manipulated like a machine, that econ…