LOS TEROPONG

I was stuck in a Workshop on Future Studies organised by the Training Unit of the Universiti Sains Malaysia from Monday evening till lunch today (1st June 2005). The workshop was facilitated by none other than Professor Sohail Inayatullah. The workshop was conducted to chart a future scenario for USM. Hmmm .. future studies, I ask. You may well ask too. I had my doubts in the beginning. Listening to a 'lecture' on future studies alone is insufficient to appreciate the complexities of the deliberations regarding the future. It ain't no crystal ball gazing.

As it turned out, I found the Workshop both stimulating and interesting actually, as the deliberations on the construction of the scenarios of a 'future' was based on real parameters such as the 'push' and 'pull' factors. It is not easy to get me excited!! Push factor means the factors actually justifying the 'future' scenario or addresing a current issue or need and the pull factors are actually the barriers or obstructions or constraints (not necessarily insurmountable) in the 'future' picture.

In effect, if it can be summarised, IF YOU DO NOTHING, DO NOT EXPECT THE FUTURE TO REMAIN THE SAME - AT LEAST NOT HOW YOU MAY WANT TO IMAGINE OR RETAIN IT! Make any sense??

The world will change, people change, needs change, children grow up, we get older, health change, the grave is nearer and petrol price also change. In fact, the only constant thing about change is change itself !! So, 5 years, or 10 years down the road, what is the picture like, and how will you be in THAT picture. Still on the same salary, mindset, skill, knowledge, good deeds, sins (oops) ... or are you still alive?? Actually, although we did it in a workshop format, it made a lot of perfect sense in our daily, worldly and spiritual life. Absolutely.

This is no high level philosophy at all. THIS IS REAL LIFE, my friend, whichever way you look at it!! The web of life is continuously being woven .....

From Islam: God will not change the fortunes of a person until that person make an effort to 'change' (methaphorically) his own self. Hey, if you want something, you'd better move your butt and do something about it .. it ain't dropping down from the sky ..

From Physics: The law of inertia - a body at rest, remains at rest. A body in motion, remains in motion, unless there is an external force applied to it.

I quote (adapt and condense) from Prof. Sohail (with many thanks) - Creating scenarios, are not constructed to be more robust or flexible but they are of use because they distance us from the present (consider the hereafter - the akhirat). The present is seen as impossible to change.

By moving forward and backward in time, the present can be made problematic, remarkable, open to transformation, constructed by particular frameworks and choices.The notion of choice brings us to anticipatory action learning. The way to reduce risk is to create desired futures (so to speak - man proposes, God disposes - buat dan tawakkal - tie your camel, lock your car..) - so if you want heaven, stop going towards hell!! - your choice, you decide!

The details of a scenario, often categorised into society, technology, economy, environment and politics (STEEP) are not assumed, rather the y–axis is developed by those creating the future. They contour within their own categories. The future is not given but made. The future is created through doing. It can be doing the right things, it can also be doing the wrong things!!

Mistakes in forecasts are not seen as disasters but as feedback loops. Learning develops by being sensitive and responsive to initial and future conditions – what we discover from complexity and chaos. Essentially this is a plea for participation and a recognition that common sense is necessary for understanding the future.

All knowledge is, if not biased, then textured. However, this texture is not to be controlled for (as in the predictive), or made distant (as in the critical), but, like the interpretive, to be used to create a better future – texture is a necessary ingredient. What is YOUR texture??

We will die on the day we are destined to die - no doubt abou that. How we die, where we die, in what state of piety .. God has given us SOME choices and 'control' over our actions, and a brain to think and decide. Shape your destiny ....