Visionary

A visionary, defined broadly, is one who can envision the future. For some groups, visioning can involve the supernatural.

Though visionaries may face accusations of hallucinating,^[1] people may succeed in reaching a visionary state via meditation,^[2] lucid dreams, daydreams, or art. One example of a visionary is Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century artist and Catholic saint.^[3] Other visionaries in religion include St Bernadette (1844-1879) and Joseph Smith (1805-1844), said to have had visions of and to have communed with the Blessed Virgin and the Angel Moroni, respectively. There is also the case of the Targum Jonathan, which was produced in antiquity and served as the targum to the Nevi'im. It described the significance of the turban or a diadem to indicate a capability on the part of Jewish priests to become agents of visionary experience.^[4]

Robert Jarvik has suggested: "Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them."^[5]

^ For example: Blom, Jan Dirk (23 June 2023). "Hallucination". A Dictionary of Hallucinations (2 ed.). Cham, Zug: Springer Nature. p. 319. ISBN 9783031252488. Retrieved 14 July 2024. In 1838 [...] Esquirol stated that 'A person is said to labour under a hallucination, or to be a visionary, who has a thorough conviction of the perception of a sensation, when no external object, suited to excite this sensation, has impressed the senses'.
^ For example: Greene, Eric M. (31 January 2021). "Meditation and Meditation Literatuire in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism". The Secrets of Buddhist Meditation: Visionary Meditation Texts from Early Medieval China. Kuroda Classics in East Asian Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9780824884444. Retrieved 14 July 2024. In the Chan Essentials and Methods for Curing [...] the meditator's journey is not psychological but visionary. [...] Successful meditation, as depicted here, is primarily an elaborate visionary journey.
^ Hildegard of Bingen, Visionary
^ Sweeney, Marvin (2014). Reading Prophetic Books: Form, Intertextuality, and Reception in Prophetic and Post-Biblical Literature. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 392. ISBN 9783161523748.
^ Robbins, Pam; Alvy, Harvey B., eds. (18 February 2014). The Principal's Companion: Strategies to Lead Schools for Student and Teacher Success (4 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. p. 257. ISBN 9781452287546. Retrieved 14 July 2024.