Unfolding the Future

In this great unfolding, ideas and thoughts, themes and songs, and other works of art exist in the aether and ripen on schedule, ready to find expression in the physical world. — Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Unfolding the Future

One idea you encounter periodically in the literature and writing on the inner path of leadership is allowing the future to unfold through you.

I've always found the idea fascinating but wondered what it really means to have the future unfold through you. Any further explanations or details always seem to be lacking.

For example, does it mean that you are a person who is at the forefront of innovation or change, and your actions, decisions, or ideas will have a significant impact on the direction that society or a particular field will take?

You are then a catalyst for progress, and your contributions will shape the future in a significant way.

Or does it mean you are fully present and engaged in the present moment? You are making choices and taking actions that align with your values, goals, and aspirations.

In this sense, you are creating a path for yourself that will lead to a desired future outcome. You are not just passively waiting for things to happen.

Or alternatively, as the quote from Rick Rubin suggests, are these ideas that guide our future unfolded from the aether that we just watch unfold?

"In this great unfolding, ideas and thoughts, themes and songs and other works of art exist in the aether and ripen on schedule, ready to find expression in the physical world."

While I believed that my future was being directed by something beyond me for some time since my inner journey started, I wasn't ready to state that the future was unfolding through me.

For example, when I left my corporate job with a deep desire to somehow alter the corporate experience in more humane ways that worked better for everyone, the idea to start an interview series came out of the blue.

Was it just happenstance, random, luck, or something else?

When a very successful entrepreneur who appreciated my work on 5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success added me to his payroll to support my work, it was totally unexpected and beyond belief.

When a new consulting assignment was coming together to work with a client in Ohio in the middle of the winter, and the work location changed suddenly overnight to Maui, that was truly magical!

And when the work in Maui led me to explore flying over an active volcano, the clarity it brought to me on leadership and truth was totally unexpected and truly profound.

But still, I had questions. The literature and discussions on leadership and allowing the future to unfold through us were noticeably short on details or examples.

When certainty arrived

Everything happens kind of the way it's supposed to happen, and we just watch it unfold. And you can't control it. Looking back, you can't say, 'I should've... ' You didn't, and had you, the outcome would have been different.

My work here at SpaceB, or Space Beyond Boundaries, fits into the description of just watching it unfold that author Rick Rubin describes.

The idea or notion that I would create anything like SpaceB and the work I'm doing now was beyond my imagination.

It all arrived unannounced when the pandemic started to sweep across the world, and I just stopped my work because I didn't know what to do.

It has unfolded through me every week now for the past three years. I also believe the challenge now before us and the world is for more of us to move to this place of being to solve the monumental challenges we now face worldwide.

Our minds are amazing tools for creating spectacular creations and results. However, on their own, they can also produce unthinkable destruction and horror.

Hopefully, my weekly posts inspire and encourage more of you to explore and deepen your inner journey.

For those of you who would like to make more progress on bringing more people on your team or organization on this journey, the LeaderONE Workshop has proven to be an effective tool for opening the doorway to living and working together in more modern ways for the 21st century.

I have this embodied vibration experience and feel a lot of love here. It reenergizes me to continue working hard to bring that into my organization and make a difference in the world. — Claude Cloutier, Managing Director, Accenture Silicon Group

I invite you to visit LeaderONE to learn more and start a conversation to explore how we might work together to allow a better future to unfold through more of us.

— Bill