The Futility of Trends

A Moment of Clarity
March 2, 1966
“A flash of sanity: the momentary realization that there is no need to come to certain conclusions about persons, events, conflicts, trends, even trends towards evil and disaster, as if from day to day, and even from moment to moment, I had to know and declare (at least to myself) that this is so and so, this is good, this is bad. We are heading for a “new era” or we are heading for destruction. What do such judgments mean? Little or nothing. Things are as they are in an immense whole of which I am a part and which I cannot pretend to grasp. To say I grasp it is to immediately put myself in a false position, as if I were “outside” it. Whereas to be “in” it is to seek the truth in my own life and action, moving where movement is possible and keeping still when movement is unnecessary, realizing that things will continue to define themselves and that the judgments and mercies of God will clarify themselves and will be more clear to me if I am silent and attentive, obedient to His will, rather than constantly formulating statements in this age which is smothered in language, in meaningless and inconclusive debate in which, in the last analysis, nobody listens to anything except what agrees with his own prejudices.” –A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals

There is so much wisdom encapsulated in this journal entry I hate to take it into a business context, but it did strike me deeply as a writer (often welding words onto experiences) and recovering trendspotter.

Trends have become a crutch in marketing. Companies unable to open their eyes to their current reality crane their necks forward, looking for the sure thing that will get them to the future first.

In my own life and professional practice, I have stopped trying to harness the future, and have instead focused my senses and instincts on getting to the truth that is the present moment. When companies hire me to do trends, I tell them that I won’t guarantee the future, but what I can do is bring them a multi-dimensional, inspirational, accurate, and thought-provoking portrait of what is. What they do with that is up to them…and that is the future. It’s not something that happens to you, it’s something you make yourself.