The year coming up is the Chinese year of the rabbit. Well we need a rabbit pulled out of a hat or a box to deal with whatever is ahead. That we know. We’ve been trained by the past few years.
It’s quite a nice way to mark off the years, this metaphorical quality or spirit we give to the year in store. A bit like finding the right tool in the kit to deal with the surprises that will inevitably come.
The year that’s ending was the Year of the Tiger, and is apparently symbolised by bravery.
There are many people in this patch and around the world who will say they’ve never felt braver or worked harder in their lives. Think Covid impact, flood, war, and the many hidden disasters that don’t make it to our news feeds but we know are there.
If the tiger is meant to be brave and strong in the face of adversity, we’re not sure that’s such a good quality to have. Soldiering on is not always the best path. It’s sometimes good to make a nice big racket/complain.
The floods in Australia for instance. Or in Pakistan, now a third underwater. Likewise Ukraine. Silence and humble hard work is not okay as a response to inhumane bombardment, or wilful destruction of our planet.
The year of the rabbit is uplifting. It has a certain mystique about it. Or unpredictability. Rabbits are “sometimes reluctant to reveal their minds to others and have a tendency to escape reality”.
Let’s grasp that one. Escaping reality – or even better, radically shifting the trajectory of that reality – sounds pretty good from where we sit.
But first you need a strong image, a vision or blueprint. It can act like a template or railroad in your mind that you will naturally fall into when making decisions, big and small, conscious or unconscious, as you work your way through life.
Our panelist at Tomorrowland did that for the last session of the day (check out the full video of it – it’s well worth your time!)
They built a hypothetical future in the year 2047 where we managed the big challenges of climate and dysfunctional cities. But lost a few challenges such as holding back the rising seas. The waterfront in Sydney for instance was now at Surry Hills.
But we managed to create some liveable cities.
On the stage were five representatives of the key professions that have the power to get us there: a developer (Fabrizio Perilli who’s left Toga recently and wants to build a company that’s even bigger), an writer and aspiring politician (Elizabeth Farrelly, who’s gunning for the NSW upper house in the state election early next year), a landscape architect (Adrian McGregor who’s made bio cities his life’s work), a local government leader (Linda Scott who as head of the Australian Local Government Association is well versed in the pain that climate change brings to communities) and an urban planner (Marcus Spiller who understands the structural systems underpinning our planning systems and has some big ideas of how to improve them).
This is not fruitless fantasising.
This is where the rabbit comes in handy. The rabbit escapes reality and fantasises about a place that’s better, an alternative reality.
And you have to start with that fantasy. Don’t forget science gets a lot of its ideas from fiction. Then comes the hard work of construction.
If you’re lucky enough to have a break over Christmas, spend a bit of time imagining the future you want. Think about it in detail, what it looks and feels like. The smells and music you’ll listen to. How you will approach your colleagues or bosses, friends or government authorities so they can share your vision.
You don’t have to actually do it in real life; you can “escape reality” and pretend. (Be a rabbit). But you will find it has immense power to influence the choices you make every day.
You can’t get somewhere without a plan, or a vision of where you want to go.
So here’s wishing you a great Christmas or holiday break and see you all back in late January with a great vision you may want to share or not share.
But we’ll be keeping a big look out for rabbits.