Polonius and the Future

I have been asked what I thought about the future of education, therapy, church, etc. Part of my response has been that if we are going to see the future possibilities, we will need to silence the ‘Polonius’ type of voice within each of us. Polonius was not able to think beyond himself. Polonius is a character in Shakespeare’s play, HAMLET (thank you High School English literature class, which I did not appreciate during my High School ‘stupid’ period of mental development). Polonius is a counselor who seems to lack the ability to see beyond himself. Dr. James Hollis, in his book, LIVING BETWEEN WORLDS, describes Polonius as “the ridiculous old man full of cliches and pomposity.” (pg. 79). Whatever the future brings, it will not be a remake of the past as a “Polonius” may think. We will need a new way of thinking. I graduated from High School in 1959 and I did not imagine cell phones, computers, electric automobiles, microwaves, etc. I have frequently laughed as I thought how my grandparents, who died in the early 1980’s, would have responded if I said to them that I needed to get my phone, put it in my pocket and take it with me to the grocery store. The future of education, therapy, church, etc., will require a new way of thinking and imagining. The old way of Polonius and his thinking will not carry us into the future.