When I was growing up, I believed the future was an ever-expanding circle — one that would keep widening to include more voices, more cultures, more perspectives. The stories I loved, from Star Trek to Back to the Future, imagined not only flying cars and warp drive, but a world where humanity worked together across every kind of difference. I thought that kind of inclusion was inevitable.
But lately, the circle seems to be narrowing. Diversity programs are being dismantled. Books are being banned. Laws target people for who they are. These aren’t just political battles over “issues” — they’re struggles over the very boundaries of our shared imagination. When we silence voices, we shrink the field of possibility. And the future we were promised — or maybe the future we promised ourselves — isn’t guaranteed.
In this episode, I explore what’s at stake when we close the circle, why the future we want will require courage, and how each of us can help draw it wide again. The real measure of progress isn’t the technology we build, but how we care for one another — with food, education, clean water, shelter… and above all, with love.
Joni Miller, Ph.D., is a writer, researcher, spiritual coach, and speaker who uses her knowledge, education, and love of all things spiritual to help spiritual wanderers find a place they can call home, navigating by the light of Love.www.SpiritualGeography.net
(1) “Draw the Circle Wide” Lyrics by Gordon Light, Music arranged by Mark A Miller
Image by upklyak: Spaceship flying above planet surface at night. For more see upklyak
