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 Next Table of Contents of FUTURLOGICS PREFACE This book is not just about the future. It also concerns what man thinks and believes his future to be. We plan, prepare, wait, and predict. Why? The rationale behind these activities is taken for granted. The future is such a necessary part of the thinking process it behooves us to make an in-depth study of it. By so doing, one may reveal to himself that the future is a prime ingredient to life. Yet, and exact knowledge of the future seems beyond us, like tomorrow's sunrise. But all have preconceptions of the future even if they are guesswork. Living requires pragmatism. In turn, a practical idea of the future is needed to match problems that arise. Don't we demand to know the time and place for every potential event and condition? specific time and place, however, frustrates an overall study. This untempered demand of specificity is too much too soon. much could be gained through studying the general properties and characteristics of the future; afterward we may be in a better position to make more difficult predictions. We will learn that the prerequisite to prospective thinking is the ability to think in the most general of terms. We have a rudimentary prescience from trial and error. In no way will futurlogics detract from these empirical beginnings. In fact, using what we already know to expand consciousness and awareness is fundamental to this thesis. Nevertheless, by necessity there must be some unlearning of methods that detract from a more expansive approach. Unfortunately, unlearning is harder to do than learning from a blank start. Therefore the heart of the generalist of futurist must have courage and mettle. This means that futurlogics is the capping off or education. It takes us back to the preschool state of mind when the most prolific learning rate existed. Learning then was natural and easy, but somehow this ease has become dormant and almost forgotten. The aims of this book include the reactivation of the art of learning to the ideal. Futurlogics is a self-improvement book, as the subject of the future lends itself to the technique used in that class of writing currently published. The reader may find it helpful to view this work in the same format as these to obtain the goals of the book. Most self-improvement books are "now" oriented, formulated to improve status, prestige, and power. Instead, we are to go ahead to the future, seeking to improve the self that is to be. By this we can see that progress and success promised in these other books will be easier and viable. It must be understood that this book contains no prophesy, no predictions or forecasts of any kind except those used merely to exemplify the inherent principles of prospective thinking. In no way are they to be interpreted as mystical and underlying the pattern of things to come except in the most general way. If one is seeking such, he will have to look elsewhere, as one of the tenets of this book is that the future should be a matter of self-discovery and not the prerogative of a select few dictating their vision to the many. Self-teaching must remain the core and wellspring of this writing. And the interpretation of religious writings must be left to those who have the authority to do so. James N. Hall PROLOGUE MATERIALITY We are surrounded by matter. Everything seems to be made of it. We need only look at our own body to see the importance of materially in our lives. It is so overpowering that it is the common denominator of existence. With some individuals materiality is so dominant that every facet of life begins and ends in its dimension. All of us find our senses focused to the aspect of the properties of the material dimension. Matter provides data which looms in our consciousness. The opposite of matter is space, and space is equally important. Where the photographic negative is black, the positive is white. Likewise, the negative copy of matter is space. Where there is no matter, there is space. Space is opposed in every respect by materiality. Again, where there is no space there is matter. Our sensory organs cannot perceive space directly. Rather they only perceive where matter ends. We judge space as mirrored from matter, as we do with the photographic negative and its opposite, the positive print. If the environment were only made of space and matter its aspect and panorama would be fixed and still, but such is not the case. Reality is not an inanimate snapshot. Motion, change, life are evident, all pointing to the very important third element--time. This central dimension of existence turns the still snapshot photographically into the flowing movie. Our environment consists of matter, space, and time. And time is the magic of motion. Within the dimension of time there is an indenture we call NOW. The environment in that instant constitutes present reality. We perceive it with our eyes, ears, nose, through all of the senses. Our body, anchored by its materiality, must continue in this moment of NOW-- but intuitively know that things exist beyond immediate materiality. There is an awareness that time extends reality to its upper reaches. If the mind were not fettered by matter, it could soar through time! Don't we feel all things are going somewhere? We have become aware of the new relationships surrounding us. The material aspect changes when things are viewed through the perspective of temporality. With time, there is progress and expansion, indeed, the addition of time to the thought process liberates the mind to think as it should, freeing it from the prison of materiality. Life is the ultimate reality. Life consists as a span of time, a planet, and a mind full of thoughts. These three spheres constitute the total environment--namely, the temporal environment. The physical and the mental conjointly complete all the dimensions of life. However, time is the abstract relationship of the other dimensions and eludes simple sensory observation. Because of this, the temporal environment and time must be studied with a special technique. Futurlogics will teach us that technique. THE FUTURE IS THE SUBJECT AND OBJECT OF OUR RESEARCH The most fascinating part of our temporal environment is our future. The future is the subject of our thoughts and our object in living. When the future is mentioned we feel either a pleasant stirring or an uneasiness, exciting the mind to its potential. The degree of intelligence we use alone limits any probe of the future. A system is needed to utilize our intelligence in an organized study. Futurlogics is such an approach. The future exists only in the mind of man until it is observable. If we cannot predict the future, then we must apply futurlogics to study what we believe the future to be. Positive mental attitudes--thinking big and self-improvement programs--suggest that we are guided by our beliefs. Without understanding the future we are in danger of losing the potential and latent talents we possess. After all, the goals we choose come from our belief in what the future might be. Understanding the future and mastering Futurlogics assists us in achieving our goals. To do this, we must think big, be positive, and accept progress. THE NEED TO KNOW The future is not what it used to be. The past is no longer prologue. This is and unprecedented age and it will be difficult to find examples in history to parallel what is happening now--let alone what will happen in the near future! In times past our influence upon our environment had the impact of a butterfly upon a rock. Now we are like the bull in a china shop. Brute force offers immediate solution, but the side effects of using force blindly mount to threatening levels. Modern technology has delivered into our hands such power that we can literally change the shape of the planet we reside upon. We fight nature rather than use her forces to work for us. We expend too much energy when nature would supply our needs. We needn't be so brutish. Instead, we can profit from a studied look a the ways we deal with the future. If we envision turmoil and confusion ahead, the effects of our assumptions influence all of our activities, and what we believe the future to be may directly cause those things to occur. Moreover, imagination flourishes when so little of the nature of the future is known. History books proliferate upon library shelves. But books concerning the future stand out as oddities. And to accept ignorance is to accept the consequences of that ignorance! POTENTIAL OF SYSTEM Although this approach to the study of the future is new, there is a familiar ring to each idea. The ideas are, in reality very old ideas seen in a different light. There was a time when prophets were respected and their gift acknowledged. Futurlogics promises to restore this respect as it brings the future into the range of common sense. Experience is the basis of this approach, thus we are able to keep the study within the reach of everyone, and not only touch an esoteric group of Futurist. Because the future affects us all, we need to be "tuned in." Latent within each of us are many talents and capabilities which are gifts at birth. Many of these will never be discovered if they are not developed. Futurlogics expands the mind, revealing latent potential. Then mind is the first and the last frontier. It is the ultimate horizon. *MAN IS THE UNIT OF MEASURE When man begins to measure an object he users a rule with a scale to compare the dimension of measurement. What does man use to measure the universe and the things he sees in it? The standard unit by which man will measure anything is ultimately himself. Man will eventually relate all things to himself. Man, himself, is the standard from which he will gauge everything he encounters or will encounter. Recognizing this therefore must be the key to understand the things man attempts to know and discover. The rule is most evident when man studies himself or his fellows. He will compare himself to all others and arrive at a norm or a standard of reference to be able to predict of judge the behavior of the individual or society. This standard of reference can be distilled to be the bank of accepted knowledge acquired and recorded. Finally knowledge is used to measure knowledge. This principle can be further refined until we arrive at the level of an axiom or a postulate, which is that man uses current knowledge to measure and research the unknown. Put more simply, the known is used to gauge and measure the unknown. Present accepted knowledge is the unit of measure by which all other knowledge known and unknown is weighed and judged. Even taking one step further back we find that the mind is both topographer or the cartographer of all that thought surveys. Therefore, understanding the mind is the key to mapping out knowledge. The study of the mind remains an essential to any subject. Since the subject is the future, we will have to investigate the mind itself. It is said the mind of man contains the past, present, and future all at once. If this is so, then the mind of man contains the complete map of reality. We must refer and reflect upon the workings of the mind. Psychology investigates the mind. However, its range is limited to study the "visible aspects" of thinking. Futurlogics imposes no such limit. -------- *Man refers to both male and female simultaneously as neither can surpass the other in intelligence. By no means is the future exclusive.