Was Toffler right?

The book Future Shock contained the idea that there might well be “enclaves of the past” where it could be possible to live in a defined “yesterday”. The pressure of keeping up and managing in a rapidly changing living or business environment will occasionally lead me to mentally tune out for an hour or even an afternoon. An escape to the country often helps the personal reboot to face the next corporate challenge.

Some groups appear to manage the separation with success. The Amish People in Pennsylvania are still holding to their enclave. It becomes difficult for each new generation of Amish to hold on. But good luck to them if they can.

How are we to cope with the pressures? Partcularly the pressure of advertising which has behind it the thing which plugs into our deepest psyche, that of the “new”. Each of us has to develop our personal “enclave of the past” space in our spirit. This is the place where we can practice an orderly retreat which enables us to come back stronger.

Reread a good book. Walk again a familar road. Call an old friend unexpectedly. For a little while, time stands still and we are restored.

Geoff Holt