Tune your vision to the whole. You might say, "I want to publish a glossy magazine, " but if there is no market for it-if people don't want it-then the vision isn't grounded in cultural reality.

Things don't generally come out exactly as we envision them-sometimes they're much better. And sometimes they're just different, or even disappointing. The important thing is to not give up on your visionary capacity just because one little vision didn't work out. And realize that no matter the outcome, you are wiser. Most of us fail to cultivate our visionary capacity. Still, most people do have some kind of dream or a vision. But they don't take it seriously. So they resign themselves to humdrum, everyday lives. Therein lies the dis-ease. With a vision, people get better, not older.

DiCarlo: Is there any other advice you could give people about developing a powerful vision?

Ferguson: Well, I would add that we need to work on our communication skills and quality discrimination. Find out, for example, if anybody else is doing the things that you would like to do. And if they failed, why they failed.

Your vision may be to work for a company because you like their vision. Even if your job is not, in itself as challenging as you would wish it to be, you can "fine-tune" yourself so that you become really good at what you do. It may even be that you find your vision in your private life, to find some cause that you really enjoy-saving the dolphins for example. You might pick up litter around the lake because it makes you feel more alive, as though you are doing something worthwhile. "How do I make my children's school better?", or "How do I make my neighborhood better?" So the secret is service.

DiCarlo: Do you have examples of "cutting-edge" visionaries of our times?

Ferguson: Gorbachev, Ted Turner, Mandala....We can look to entertainment or sports heroes who have become very much involved in "Save the world" activities. Turn to the local feature section in the newspaper, the stories of people who are making things happen locally. The "cutting-edge" visionaries I would say, include the people who are stepping forth to help their neighborhoods.

DiCarlo: So, a vision would never be founded upon the mundane pursuit of money?

Ferguson: We got into this situation by first thinking of our personal profits. We only win through each other; we don't win over each other. We triumph as a group, not alone. In the past it was the "joy of victory" and "beating" one's adversaries. I recommend a book called Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse. The author suggests that we think in terms of winning or losing the game of life. But the real purpose is to keep the ball in play. That's a whole other way of looking at things. For example, what would happen if you were so successful in business that you buy out all your competitors and completely dominate the market?

Now what?

DiCarlo: In 1980, you were decidedly optimistic about the brightness of the future of mankind. Do you still feel that way?

Ferguson: There's a quotation from Virgil that has become a sort of motto for me-"They can because they think they can."

We have to act from faith. If we are going to go out, at least let's go out trying our best to save this situation, knowing that we did our best.

Why do the same themes keep getting played over and over again? What are the lessons of history trying to teach us? One of the lessons seems to be that we don't learn the lessons of history very well.