Without Vision the People Will Perish

“Where there is no vision, the people will perish,” Proverbs 29:18.

What did the writer mean by “vision,” and “people”? Did he mean ‘perfect’ ideal people, good and kind, without desires, needs and passions? People who don’t go to the bathroom or fuck? Or did he mean real, flesh and blood people who do go to the bathroom, eat, fuck and have lustful, lascivious thoughts? Did he mean some people, or all the people? Did he mean only people who agree with him, look like him, fuck, think, talk, vote and eat like him, and everyone not like him be damned, and good riddance?

No, I don’t think he meant that. I think the writer meant the statement to be inclusive of all people, like him and different from him. There are many Americans today who would disagree with me – who would say the writer meant people with different sexual preferences, skin color, family ‘values’, educational and income levels, are excluded from the vision and are meant to perish, because people like that are a threat to the ‘true’ vision.

Did the writer mean ‘vision’ as something positive or negative? What does vision mean now? I think, then and now, vision means something positive, something bigger and better than our everyday egocentric thinking, something meant to guide us past the ego and awaken us to our shared reality as spirit.