ABSTRACT
The power of the prophets and the revolutionaries came from a burning expectation for the future. When the opposite happened, when the images of the future were weak, the culture decayed–as was the case with the fall of the Roman Empire. The images acted as a barometer, indicating the potential rise or fall of a culture. This intimate relationship between the image of the future and the future itself made it possible to predict the direction cultures would take. The healing power of imagery has been taken further by several cancer specialists, who are finding that many malignancies seem to respond positively to imagery. There appear to be two key elements in their approach: a relaxed, almost meditative, state of mind; and a specific image of the desired result. From the perspective of dissipative systems theory the crises can be seen as the catalysts pushing humanity on to a new evolutionary level.
