You are a Visionary

What is a visionary?

The dictionary defines a visionary as “a person thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.” Oh, don’t we need more people like that in the world!

The magazine, Utne Reader, describes visionaries as those who “think about our crises, collective and personal, ponder values and pleasures and hopes, and offer vivid, memorable answers to questions that concern us all.” They’ve profiled many visionaries over the years. Recent examples include David Simon, a creator of cutting edge television shows, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a scientist who speaks for trees, and Humira Saqeb, who started a magazine to empower Afghani women. Each of them operate in their particular area of expertise or, most importantly, in what they care most about.

Do you have hopes and dreams for a better future? Then, you are a visionary too.

In her book, Sight and Sensibility, Laura Sewall has a chapter called Visionary Practice. She believes that most of us are capable of being visionaries and making a difference. Anyone who is perceptive and has hopes and dreams of a brighter future applies. This includes you – and me. According to Sewall, these are the qualities of a visionary.

• One who sees with clarity, precision, and imagination.
• Sees the world as it is, freed of her projection or personal agenda, and yet also illuminated with her imagination.
• One who sees into, her vision flexible, responsive, and roving across inner and outer landscapes, visible and invisible realms.
• Engages with the world, always on the lookout for signs, for patterns.
• One who attunes herself to the aesthetics of any circumstance, to the way in which colour and form pattern up and make wholeness.
• Sees what is possible by attending to the edges, where things change from one thing to the next, becomes more than it initially appears to be.

Who is a visionary for you?

Each of us has different role models that we consider as visionaries. In my world, on the big stage are people like writers Rebecca Solnit and photographer Teju Cole. These are people who write truth to power and envision a more just world, whether it be with human relationships or a relationship with nature. In my local community, I think of a woman who makes migrant workers feel at home, and winemakers who operate biodynamically. In my family, I consider my niece, who is bringing up her kids with a vegan diet, based on her own vision for the future.

I have a vision too. My motto for this website, my work, and my life is that the meaning of life is to see. Most of my work has to do with the quality of the way that we see, and that’s probably why you’re here too. A visionary is one who sees what others don’t. We need people from all walks of life who envision new ways of seeing and being – on local and global levels, and in our relationships with each other and the earth.

The world needs your vision.

Maybe you’re saying to yourself that you’re not really a visionary. Besides, the problems of the world are just too overwhelming. There’s nothing you can do. Maybe you’ve worked hard your whole life and it’s time to enjoy the time you have left. Leave the visionary work to someone else. Believe me, I get it. You deserve that. But, being a visionary doesn’t mean you have to or are going to solve the many problems facing us. But, you’re still here and it’s important that you’re living towards your vision, one step at a time. You just might inspire someone else. If you do this, your time left will be that much more rewarding.