Understanding and teaching future
consciousness
Tom Lombardo
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the main forms and components of future
consciousness, to identify the important values for enhancing future consciousness, and to describe a
variety of educational strategies for heightening future consciousness.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a historical review of the development of future
consciousness and a psychological review of recent theory and research on its components and
benefits, and argues for a teaching philosophy and strategy based on positive psychology and the
development of virtues and wisdom.
Findings – Future consciousness is multi-dimensional and involves all the major capacities of the
human mind. A set of different forms of future consciousness has evolved over time, encompassing
practical and social intelligence, mythic narrative, rationality and emotionality, science fiction, and future
studies. Psychologically, future consciousness involves human emotion and motivation, learning and
memory, all major forms of cognition, and self-identity. Psychological processes that contribute to
expansive, optimistic, and creative future consciousness can be effectively taught. The development of
virtues necessary for enhanced future consciousness can be facilitated through future-focused
self-narrative activities.
Originality/value – This paper provides a succinct and comprehensive review of the major historical
forms of future consciousness and its basic psychological components, and develops an educational
approach to teaching future consciousness based on this comprehensive review. The approach is
unique in that it is grounded in comprehensive historical research, contemporary psychology, and
recent thinking in the study of the future, and creates a virtue and wisdom based approach to teaching
future consciousness that subsumes and transcends all traditional educational approaches.
Keywords Consciousness, Psychology, Evolution, Education, Mind, Life planning
Paper type General review
Introduction
What is future consciousness? Why is it critically important to improve this capacity in
humans? And how can we, as teachers and educators, enhance this ability in our students?
These are the three central questions I address in this paper. I argue that future
consciousness is a multi-faceted capacity and is the most critical ability needed for the
survival and growth of humanity and the flourishing of the individual. My central hypothesis is
that the development of key character virtues, including personal responsibility and wisdom,
should form the guiding framework for the enhancement and teaching of future
consciousness.
As an introductory description, future consciousness is the human capacity to have
thoughts, feelings, and goals about the future. It includes the normal human capacities to
anticipate, imagine, and think about the future, to have hopes and fears about the future, and
to have desires, set goals, and make plans for the future. Future consciousness includes
evaluating different possibilities and preferable futures, solving problems about the future,
and making choices and decisions concerning the future. Every normal human being
DOI 10.1108/10748120910965476 VOL. 17 NO. 2 2009, pp. 85-97, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1074-8121
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ON THE HORIZON
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PAGE 85
Tom Lombardo is based at
the Center for Future
Consciousness, Rio Salado
College, Scottsdale,
Arizona, USA.