THEORETICAL CATHOLICISM: Making New Wineskins out of ordinary ideas. Making All Things New with Jesus.Part I.

The late Joel Barker, noted futurist and one of the ten people who have been a prime source of ideas against which I have formulated my new Catholic Faith (new wineskins). What follows are the questions I asked the AI to comment on, using my worldview of reality. I will share short bursts of ideas you can use to challenge the assumptions you hold about finding purpose in life. There are AI comments on my blogs, but to keep it short, it’s an outline format. Grok has taken my ideas and organized them in an easy-to-read outline format. I approve of all that is below as mine.

My purpose in using Joel Barker’s thoughts to meld with my own to give you some tidbits that challenge your Catholic thinking to move deeper in complexity and consciousness is to show you how I make new wineskins to house the wine Christ gives me each day in a container of my life experiences and choices of what is good or evil for me.

CONVERSATION ONE: PIONEER OR SETTLER CATHOLICS?

Describe how Joel Barker’s thinking about “settlers” and “pioneers” applies to Michael F. Conrad’s notion of spiritual reality, using the teachings of the Catholic Church as he understands it.

“Michael F. Conrad’s notion of the Catholic Church is one of a roadbuilder through the centuries encountering obstacles and missed opportunities, but like a pioneer paving the way for us to link up with Christ’s way, truth, and life. Use Joel Barker’s notion of pioneer and settler to give a scenario of how this applies to me in 2026.

In 2026, applying Michael F. Conrad’s “roadbuilder” theology alongside Joel Barker’s “pioneer vs. settler” framework creates a dynamic scenario for your spiritual life: one where you must actively participate in clearing the path to Christ rather than just occupying a finished structure.

1. The Roadbuilder (Michael F. Conrad)

Conrad, a Lay Cistercian, views the Catholic Church not as a static destination but as a road builder that has paved the way FORWARD through history.

• The Mission: The Church clears obstacles (heresy, cultural shifts, personal sin) to create a highway for individuals to encounter Christ’s Way, Truth, and Life.
• The Reality: This road is not perfect; it involves missed opportunities and human error, yet it remains the primary infrastructure for spiritual connection.

2. The Pioneer vs. The Settler (Joel Barker)

Barker’s futurist paradigm distinguishes between those who create new rules and those who merely follow them.

• The Pioneer: Driven by intuition and “heart,” the pioneer takes risks to explore new paradigms. They are the first to act when the old way (the “settled” land) no longer solves emerging problems.
• The Settler: Settlers wait for proof and safety. Barker warns that in times of rapid change—like 2026—settlers are at the highest risk because they cling to past successes that are no longer effective.

3. Your 2026 Scenario: Spiritual “Pioneering”

Imagine your spiritual life in 2026 as a journey on Conrad’s road. You encounter a modern “obstacle”—perhaps a crisis of faith, a technological shift (like AI-driven ethics), or a personal tragedy that the “settled” habits of your past can’t address.

• The Settler Approach (At Risk): You wait for the Church or others to provide a perfect, risk-free answer. You stick only to the “paved” parts of the road, even if they no longer lead you toward a living encounter with Christ in your current context.
• The Pioneer Approach (The Application): You recognize that being part of the Church means being a pioneer-roadbuilder yourself.
  • Intuition over Evidence: Like Barker’s pioneer, you take a “leap of faith” to try a new spiritual discipline (e.g., Lectio Divina as taught by Conrad) even if you don’t yet “feel” the results.
  • Navigating Obstacles: You don’t abandon the road when you hit a “missed opportunity” (a bad parish experience or personal failure). Instead, you use “pioneer guts” to help pave the next section of the road for yourself and others.

In this scenario, you are not just a passenger on the Church’s road; you are a paradigm pioneer who uses the Church’s 2,000-year-old “road-building” tools to forge a fresh, authentic link to Christ in a complex world.

Joel Arthur Barker (1944–2025), widely known as “The Paradigm Man,” was an influential American futurist and author who popularized the concept of the paradigm shift in the corporate world. 

Barker passed away in early 2025 at the age of 80. His legacy continues through his extensive body of work on how individuals and organizations can anticipate change and leverage future trends. 

Key Concepts and Contributions

Barker’s work focused on helping people “discover the future” by understanding the rules and boundaries that govern their thinking: 

• Paradigm Shifts: He famously defined a paradigm as a set of rules and regulations that establishes boundaries and tells you how to behave within those boundaries to be successful.
• The Paradigm Effect: He illustrated how our current paradigms can act as filters, preventing us from seeing new opportunities or threats—a phenomenon he called “paradigm paralysis”.
• The Power of Vision: Barker argued that a positive, shared vision of the future is the most powerful motivator for organizational and personal success.
• Innovation at the Verge: His more recent work explored finding big ideas at the “verge,” where different disciplines or ideas intersect. 

Notable Works

His videos and books have been used by millions worldwide and translated into dozens of languages: 

• Books: Future Edge (1992) and Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future (1993).
• Videos: Best-sellers include The Business of Paradigms and The Power of Vision.
• Tools: He developed the Implications Wheel®, a software-supported tool designed to help leaders map out the long-term consequences of change and innovation. 

 How do Joel Barker’s paradigm concepts apply to Michael F. Conrad’s notion that humanity has evolved beyond matter into spirituality?

“In 2026, combining Joel Barker’s paradigm concepts with Michael F. Conrad’s Cistercian theology reveals that humanity’s evolution into spirituality is not a passive biological process, but a series of intentional paradigm shifts.

1. The Paradigm Shift: From “Ape” to “Spiritual Ape” Conrad’s central thesis in Spiritual Apes is that humans are the next step in biological evolution—”spiritual apes” who must use reason to reach a higher level of reality. 

• Barker’s Application: Barker’s “Paradigm Shift” is the mechanism for this jump. Transitioning from the Physical Universe (governed by nature) to the Spiritual Universe requires a complete change in the rules of how you perceive reality. You move from a “settled” paradigm of material survival to a “pioneer” paradigm of spiritual growth. 

2. Paradigm Paralysis and the “Matter” Obstacle

Barker warns of Paradigm Paralysis, where successful old rules prevent us from seeing new ones.

• The Struggle: Conrad argues that humans often stay stuck in “matter” and “time,” treating these as the only realities.
• The Shift: To evolve, you must overcome the paralysis of the physical world. In Barker’s terms, you must be a Paradigm Pioneer, willing to embrace “insane” new rules—like the idea that “nothingness” (God) is the source of all energy—before there is proof. 

3. The Role of the “Pioneer” in 2026

In Conrad’s view, the evolution into spirituality requires “help from another nature” (grace) and a deliberate choice. 

• Anticipating the Future: Barker’s pioneers are the first to adopt a new paradigm. In 2026, you apply this by treating contemplative prayer (Lectio Divina) as your primary technology for navigating the “Mental Universe”.
• The Verge: Barker’s “Innovation at the Verge” happens where the physical and spiritual meet. For Conrad, this “verge” is the human mind, the only place where reason and choice allow us to link the physical world to the spiritual destiny of Christ. 

Summary of the Evolution

By 2026, you aren’t just waiting for “evolution” to happen to you. Following Barker’s lead, you are actively shifting your paradigm away from the limitations of matter and into the “unseen” reality that Conrad describes as our true future inheritance. 

REFLECTION

Take ten minutes to think about the implications of this conversation, then read it for a second time, asking Jesus to share what He thinks about it. Listen “with the ear of the heart.” Then, do what He tells you. Just you and Jesus in the upper room of your inner self. Use this image as a focus portal as you sit in the presence of Jesus and listen.

Copyright 2026. Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. The Center for Contemplative Practice. All Rights Reserved.

Six Core Websites Every Catholic Should Memorize and Use Frequently: www.wordonfire.org; www.scotthahn.com; www.usccb.org; www.newadvent.org; https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org/; www.vatican.va