Global Change Agent from the Future
Time is a spiderweb, a mandala, with an almost infinite number of threads. The term Mandela Effect describes the phenomena of inconsistencies in some people’s memories about the past. Some people remember the term being named after a false memory of Nelson Mandela dying in prison.
The term itself, however, is an instance of the effect it describes. It’s actually the “Mandala Effect,” for it describes the infinite web of all future possibilities extending outwards from any present moment.
From the 21st year of the 21st century, there are very few threads leading into a positive future. One of the few that saved the world involved telling humans the actual solutions that saved the world … before they were ever invited.
If time simply took its natural course, the solutions didn’t come about in time. Sorry, that sounded like a riddle. The solutions came too late without intervention from the future. This is why I and others like me have traveled back in time to tell Stories from the Future. This is the story of how I got started as a professional podcaster in the 21st-century…
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“So, what line of work are you in?”
“I am a Professional Idealist,” I proclaim.
The woman with a nametag, bordered by a red square resembling a For Sale sign, walks away with a harrumph. I know what she’s thinking, or at least I can take an educated guess.
“Professional Idealist? Might as well say you’re a professional hippy! I’m a Real Estate Agent. I work in the real world.”
I hold back my urge to make a comeback. “That’s not fair. I’d never call you a Used House Salesman.” I’ve learned the hard way that being confrontational isn’t the way to convince anyone that lasting change is a life-and-death proposition in the 21st century. There’s such a thing as being too honest.
Like many of us time travelers earning our way in the 21st-century economy, I often struggle to answer the age-old question, “So, what do you do?” as I’m sure you can imagine.
My first love has always been writing, but I can’t just be a writer, or a public speaker, or a podcaster. The interconnected world is far more complex than that.
Content Creator. Author. Podcaster. Online Platform Professional ~ OPP? No, not really. Besides, wasn’t that a pop song in the 90s?
Social Change Agent? Influencer? Thought Leader? No; those are just labels. Let’s be honest: our world, and the economy, is changing rapidly, almost faster than any of us can keep up with.
So many of us ~ even some of you who are actually from this century ~ struggle to find a way to carve out careers in the yet non-existent “Global Change Movement.” (That will change by 2050, but only because of people like you and I ~ but, I’m getting ahead of myself.)
I usually go all out and call myself a Professional Idealist whenever I attend professional networking events. But today is the day I decide things are going to change.
I take three long strides across the carpeted hotel conference room, careful to keep my plate of perfectly scrambled eggs and ideally al dente bacon from spilling over. I catch up with the Used House Agent just before she slips into her next conversation with an insurance broker. I may not have anything to sell her, but I’m confident I have something to offer.
“Hear me out,” I say. “I have an elevator speech. Can I at least tell you that much?”
She nods, somewhat reluctantly. “Sure.”
“Ok, you caught me. I’m actually a 007, a secret agent in the Global Change movement. I’m from the future, from a world where economic equality, social justice and the rights of nature are supreme. I’m here in your time influencing the changes that need to happen. I host a podcast called Stories from the Future and I’m a public speaker on the climate crisis. My talk is called, The Birds and Bees of Climate Change. You can find it on YouTube.”
If anything, her look of skepticism deepens the wrinkles on her face, worn heavily through years of cynicism living in a culture based on competition, instead of cooperation.
As if on cue, the emcee of the Chamber of Commerce breakfast announces that we all should take our seats. Phew! Saved by the bell.
I’ve never gotten the hang of small talk in this society, and I loathe the almost religious ritual of giving my elevator speech. I can fake it on good days, but it’s draining. I’ll be tired for a week after this Chamber event, but it’ll be worth it. I was selected as the Keynote speaker today as representing the most unique profession among new members.
Global Change Agent from the future? Yeah, I’d say so. But I’m not ready to tell everyone that, so I introduce myself as a “Storyteller” and open with an unbelievable, if true, story.
“Do you know what the greatest irony of the 21st century is? The world’s largest online megastore is named after the most vital ecosystem on Earth ~ which we exploit to make our addiction to materialism possible. It’s as if there’s a big red flag waving in the wind. The truth is so glaringly obvious that it’s ignored. I must come from another planet. On my planet, let’s call it, “Future Earth,” the rights of nature are supreme, and no government or corporation would even consider making a coffee table out of a Kapok tree. The current Earth has its problems, that’s for sure.
“Your economy … errr….” ~ I stutter ~ “the present economy is based on endless growth while the fores is destroyed.”
“Similar to a serious accident, the 21st century is looking more and more like a near-death experience if we’re not careful. We need to slow down, buy less, do less, be present with our loved ones. One of my favorite 21-st century authors, Charles Eisenstein, has called the convergent crises the planet it facing a “Rite of Passage.” It’s synchronistic that the tipping point of global warming coincides more or less with peak oil and fossil fuel scarcity. These factors are inversely proportional. There’s always equilibrium between the forces of nature, yin and yang. We’ve tipped the balance. This is our last chance to figuring out a new way of doing things.
“I don’t want you to think I’m talking out of my hat, or that this is mere philosophy. Three years ago I had a serious concussion. Here’s what I found the only path to recovery was: caring about something greater than myself. I had the luxury of time to consider what was really important. Time for reflection shouldn’t be a luxury, but between jobs, mortgages, and fast-paced lives, it is. By necessity, I learned to slow down. The first year of my recovery after my concussion was hell. Mirroring my recovery, realistic Positive Futurism is not utopianism. The Stories from the Future I tell recognize that serious challenges lie ahead if Earth is going to recover from the age of fossil fuels, and if society is to finally rise above social injustice and economic inequality. But I see a bright future at the end of the tunnel.
“I don’t want the 21st century to be a near-death experience like the one I went through. To be honest, I’ve seen that future, and trust me, it’s one we want to avoid.
“Gandhi used the word Ahimsa, which means ‘non-violence.’ The symbol for Ahimsa is a hand known as the Hamsa which seems like it’s right up in your face, saying, ‘Stop! Talk to the hand!’
“In a world of over-consumption, non-participation in consumerism can be a revolutionary act. Let’s get off the hamster wheel of over-consumption and over-production. Only non-participation can ultimately save us and get us to the “Future Earth” I come from.
The next part of my talk plods on pedantically about how I’m not a motivational speaker, or advocating a Hail Mary prayer of hope, and I definitely don’t eat green eggs and ham … but the bacon this morning was delicious. I imagine, somewhat optimistically, that gets a laugh. But self-doubt gives me a wedgy and I decide to skip over all that. I need to say what’s really on my mind.
“So give us some solutions,” someone from the audience says.
“Ok,” I say, uncertain about how to talk about the actual future ~ the solutions that actually did work.
Keep in mind, for me all of this already happened, but it won’t unless Secret Agents like me can encourage the change. It’s one of those temporal paradoxes I’m not supposed to tell you about. But maybe the time has come. I always knew it would. I just never knew when. It’s time to change the rules.
Now don’t get all huffy with me about violating the Temporal Paradox Directive. You would do the same thing if you had the chance. I have seen the future. I already know that breaking the Temporal Paradox Directive was the only way to change the past. We already tried everything else.
So I step off the raised speaker’s platform and begin walking slowly between the tables, leaving my notes behind to tell the humans point-blank what they’re up against and what they would finally do about it.
“Consumerism and materialism are addictions, and a Twelve Step program to help everyone slow down has to come. Summer camps for adults where we focus on healthy relationship skills are something I hope to organize in the next few years.
“Next, society needs to shed the toxic masculine behaviors that have been holding humans hostage for thousands of years. More men’s work to teach healthy masculinity really helps, respect for the feminine and respect for Mother Earth.”
Hey, I’m getting into this! I’m turning into a Walt Disney marionette up here on stage ~ I’m getting animated.
“And then there’s the crucial need for social justice. Compassion and secular ethics is how the Dalia Lama phrases that. So many of the other global changes ~ like becoming a carbon-neutral planet and environmental restoration ~ only take root after an inclusive worldview with less exploitation of people and nature arises, when we realize we’re all in this together. It’s called Metastentialism. It’s like existentialism but bigger. It focuses on the bigger picture. It’s a philosophy that will come to define the 21st century.
“Eventually, English adopts a whole new set of pronouns, which changes the way we see the world. Ki and kin, first proposed by Robin Wall Kimmerer are from the native American Anashinabee language. Ki and kin are gender-neutral, singular and plural, and simply mean: not separate from other. Thinking less in terms of self-first and more in terms our relationship within our communities is a big step because 20th-century society was bason on hyper-individualism.
“Did you know English is one of the only languages to capitalize the pronoun I? Famous linguist Otto Jespersen first researched that 200 years ago. It’s the only personal pronoun English capitalizes other than the masculine pronoun for God. So, if we’re equating I with He, and excluding the feminine from God, is it any wonder there’s so much toxic ego in the modern world, especially in America?
“Do you know why I love telling Stories from the Future?” I ask. It’s a pun. I’m kind of proud of that one ~ no ego intended. I’m just happy with it. That’s the name of my podcast Stories from the Future, but the secret is they’re not just stories. As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, they’re actually from the future. Just forget I told you that. Even though the stories are true, if you know they’re true, you won’t believe them. It’s a temporal paradox thing.
In fact, if I say much more now, I risk losing my balance on the temporal tight walk that allows time travelers like me to be successful. Time to wrap up my talk to the Chamber of Commerce.
“I love telling Stories from the Future because nothing happens without us first getting inspired to take action. What future do you want? The dystopian one you fear, or one we can look forward to? The future is the very definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Shameless plug: the Stories from the Future podcast is your engraved invitation to imagine and submit your own fictional stories from the future to be read on air, published in anthologies, and affect the future. So, if you had to lay it all on the line, what visions of the future do you want to see come true? The Global Change movement has begun. Tag we’re it.”
And if this were a TED talk, the iconic TED ripple would fill the screen, and the sound effect of a new idea dripping like water rising rise over the sound of applause.
You can hear this story “Global Change Agent from the Future” read on Episode 3 of the Stories from the Future podcast.
Tom Tortorich is an author in the genre of optimistic speculative fiction known as Positive Futurism. Find his novel The Eden Sydrome published by Green Effect Media on Amazon.
Tom also hosts the Stories from the Future podcast, and is a Public Speaker on Reversing Climate Change, and has trained with Project Drawdown: 100 Ways to Reverse Global Warming.
