FUTURLOGICS a system of prospective thinking:
by james n. hall COPYRIGHT © 1983 BY JAMES NORMAN HALL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatever without express written permission of the publisher ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Printed in the United States of America SELF TEACHING PUBLICATIONS WEST JORDAN, UTAH 84084 USA Previous Table of Contents of FUTURLOGICS EPILOGUE LEADERSHIP AND FORETHOUGHT If all our lives we remain but followers, the need to look ahead would just be an academic study. Our social structure demands more than blind obedience. It demands initiative to make the organization more flexible and adaptable to change. If nothing ever changed, once leaders gave directives, these rules and laws would suffice conceivably forever. Needless to say, change is a constant element of existence. It is because there is ever present the factor of change that leadership--and forethought--are needed. No organization is perfect; Therefore, as new and unusual situations are encountered by the subordinate, he will immediately call his supervisor for correct policy and procedure. Business and social organizations are constantly looking for leadership to handle the constant flux of change. In the lower echelons of an organizaion, the rules, guides, and goals are given by the "boss." Everything is a matter of following information handed down by the higher levels of managemanent. The future of the lowest level of a social heirarchy will be dealing with brief excursions into the future, as in the case of the assembly-line worker who must concentrate on the item he is assembling, and only cast his attention ahead as far as the next item to be built in a serial of repetition. As persons rise to higher and higher positions in the business world and in the social structure, dealing with the future becomes more direct and intense. Positions such as the board of directors, planning committees, presidents of the company, etc., are usually in close contact with those types of problems that require a long range view of the immediate prospects. Toward the top of any social structure, the future becomes a constant challenge. This, then, becomes a rule of thumb in management structures: the higher up the management ladder one climbs, the greater the amount of time which must be spent in thoughts concerning the future, and the greater is the responsibility to plan and prepare to meet inevitable change. AT THE VERY TOP Where do those in uppermost positions of leadership get the rules and directives which they issue to those below them? What kind of future do they envision as the result of their decisions? The followers are disciplined to obey those in command. The leader is self-disciplined to what? The soldier obeys his officers, but where does the general get his orders in the chain of command? These are important questions to consider since no one can lead without some notion or view of the future. We would not need leaders, but only rules and traditions, if it were not for change. A smoothly running organization may work unhampered in ordinary circumstances, but when people are hit by change, they run at wits end and shrug responsibility and cover their tracks. Leaders are created when someone ends up shouldering the responsibility and stands out to be seen and heard. Society has found that things run better when important and long-reaching decisions are made by the upper levels of talent and mentality. It is in the rarified atmosphere of the mind that we find answers to where the leader gets his information. This book is intended to be used by the future leaders and those at the upper levels of social structures for consideration of long range future matters that concern us all. The future-minded person cannot help but be elevated to an eventual position of leadership. By studying the future, one must also learn the principles found in leadership, government, and social engineering. No one who studies the future can remain a follower. SOCIAL ENGINEERING When those who are in authority attempt to engineer the present social structure to some different life style, we find that we are subject to their ideas of what is best for us. They, though they will deny it, have a future which they use as a map or model, to which they would force us to conform. Sometimes they do these things so subtly that by the time we realize what they are doing, we cannot change the effects of their plans. Social engineering differs from government and leadership in that the people are not aware of the ultimate consequences of their proposals. They use the side effects of their programs and agencies to promote their ultimate goals, ostensibly for our good. Doing things for the good of people is moral action. Morals however, are not claimed as a motive in their science. This then is a contradiction. The purpose of religion is to inculcate moral principles which would if all people were to embrace them, bring about a social order of peace, prosperity, etc.. The current social engineers claim that they exist without religious connotations. If they have no religious motives, then they must imagine an ultimate future for society that is fashioned to their own designs. We need to know what the future they would design for us looks like. By discovering how people learn and operate under the stimulus of their mental view of the future, we have also discovered that the modes of the future are many. Social engineers, like the rest of us, have their choice of any of these modes. Futurlogics would make sure that what others are doing for our good do not bring unexpected consequences. Futurlogics is a point from which we can guage ideals and motives of those who would influence our lives. We have learned that our conception of the future is directly related to the motivational systems of the human personality. If we are to recognize good leaders and beneficial social reforms, we must look at the future and at the motives of the people who intend to bring about the changes which we should decide for ourselves. GOVERNMENT IDEALS When we select officials for our government we must look to the future to see possible consequences of their policies and practices. We should ask them what they see for the country in the next few years. If their view seems hazy or unclear we might doubt their capability to fill the offices the people will depend upon in later years of their administration. If a government is truly by the people, then for that government to accomplish its goals it must have an educated populace from which to draw its leaders. Voters who know nothing about the future will not make the best choice to fill leadership positions. The populace of a nation must know the future envisioned for their nation. They must recognize the people who will help them to accomplish that vision. Remember the future is our ultimate goal! THE BIRTH OF FUTURLOGICS Futurlogics is an infant, but with nourishment it will grow and mature. We may see it as a perfect approach to the future as others add to this humble start. Omissions and errors can be excused if we realize that there have been no precedents. Futurlogics invites everyone's creative thought and perspective towards improving Futurlogics, or the system of prospective thinking. THE SCIENCE OF PREDICITON, THE ART OF FORETELLING, THE GIFT OF PROPHECY The science of predicition is developed from an observational method of treatment. It is all the conscious operation of the mind used to obtain information and data that will enable us to tell beforehand what should happen if conditions remain the same. The art of foretelling is the art of drawing from the subconscious means in addition to the conscious mental processes. Since emotions and feelings--and perhaps dreams--are involved, it is more complicated, and it reaches the state of an art. The rules and procedures of prognostication are learned the same as any artful endeaver. The gift of prophecy relies upon the highest levels of intelligence. It exists in a rarified atmosphere, and it is understood only at that altitude. All three ways of prognostication should be in harmony. They ought not to contend with each other. One is not superior to another. They support one another by reinforcing the prescience of the other. Each has its limitations, but this means that when one reaches its limits another should come to its aid. The outside proof of any statement of the future (besides waiting to see) is found in the corroboration of the other means. The gift helps the science and the science helps the gift. Proving anything we learn of the future is by prediction in other forms. Seldom is prediction made certain by immediate circumstances. A predicition is proved by better prediciton. Foretelling is proved by the gift of prophecy. What proves the gift of prophecy? The gifted. If the ability to prophesy is possible in everyone, then the principles of Futurlogics will be perfected. Descarte postulated "cogito, ergo sum:" "I think, therefore I am." If thinking proves ones existence, what turns mere existence into life? Quality of life and personal growth must be predicated upon prospective thinking. ... POSTSCRIPT There is great intrinsic beauty in the rainbow that is seen in the clear aftermath of a storm-cleansing rain. If the sun is shining its even white light is splayed out in the luminescent colors. Everyone can see the reward of heaven for putting up with the moment of dark clouds and thundering flashings of the clouds in pondering thoughts. Just as the mind rains upon us knowledge once in a while the mind will also display before the bright light of consciousness a thing of great beauty. These special moments which more than pay for the broodings of a thoughtful mind are like the clouds that, once dispelled, make room for the rainbow we all wait for in search of knowledge and understanding. Futurlogics, then, becomes a prism that takes the light of consciousness within each of us and portrays a spectrum of thought that rivals the tints in the rainbow. If each mode and future is seen as the complementary colors of white light, then DMP's total impact may be anticipated. The climate and weather of the planet Earth in some respects have been easier to predict than the events of man. The societies' times and seasons could also be predictable if we understood mankind. Man measures man against himself; someday as the arrow of progress continues its flight upward, the greatest value in the universe will be found. That thing of greatest worth will be the most knowledgeable ever. Perhaps the storms of today's changes and conditions will give way to a rainbow of promise. All who penetrate the future see good things. Only they who do not respect others see the gloom. When the roots of the ARITIFICIAL FUTURE are known, the size of the tree can be measured. The future, then, is like a tree with many branches and leaves to catch the sun and roots to absorb the rains. ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Norman Hall was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in April, 1941. He works for an international computer company and lives on a half-acre home site in Utah. His wife, Julieta, is from Mexico City, and the couple has two cultures to share with their family of six children. This book is the result of many years of note-taking as James brainstormed futurism (which is just now beginning to boom in interest across the country) and the idea of codifying his findings in the form of a book about prospective thought began about eight years ago. FUTURLOGICS contains useful and unique principles of psychology, and has bearings on decision making and dealing with the problems of the future. James does not see himself as a mystic or a clairvoyant; rather he views himself to be a thinker involved in private research of an up-and-coming discipline. Direct Mental Process or Direct Mind Perception, DMP, is the simple child-like open mindedness we must achieve to eliminate the prejudicing effect of things we have held to be true, but which must shortly be revised.History as a point of reference for charting the course ahead is obsolete. Soon absolutes will become mere variables. New tools are needed to prepare for the times ahead.
FUTURLOGICS is an expanding spiral of thought to organize and systemize all the principles of thinking future through DMP.
Predicting, preparing, and planning with the understanding gained through reading this handbook will liberate the mind to think as it should.