THE BAD NEWS: As baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, careen toward retirement, a warning that's been sounding for decades grows louder.

The numbers don't add up. In five years, the first of the 83 million boomers reach what's considered full retirement age and can start collecting benefits from Social Security. Seven years after that—unless the law is changed and Social Security strengthened—there'll be a shortfall. The amount paid out in benefits will exceed the amount collected in taxes. That shortfall will grow worse for years, until the Social Security Trust Fund goes bust. That spells trouble for boomers, and even worse for younger workers who by then will have paid taxes for decades, only to face bleak prospects in their own retirement.

The solution, say some experts, is simple. Reduce benefits or raise revenues. Or, more likely, some of both. And the sooner the better. Yes, it's simple, but politically unpalatable. No elected official wants to tell 83 million voters—plus more millions of younger voters still coming up—"You'll have to pay more and get less."

Nor is this strictly an American problem. Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain, and a raft of other countries host aging workforces. Their promised benefits will be tough to deliver, unless change happens.

THE GOOD NEWS: Boomers will rewrite what it means to grow older. Close to 80 percent, according to some surveys, say they plan to keep working into their retirement years. It'll be part of a mix of work, leisure, and greater community service. The "me generation" will increasingly morph into the "we generation." Boomers already think less of themselves and more of their children, their parents, and their community. Boomer women, better educated and more independent than ever, are far more likely to save and invest than any previous generation. All these factors, and others, will mitigate some of the worst concerns and help create a political climate more open to solutions.

THE EVEN BETTER NEWS: In the past, spiritual vision galvanized societies to take united action against looming, but years-away, threats. It can again. Consider this from the Old Testament account of Joseph. After a promising start, followed by harsh setbacks, it looked as if he might waste away in prison. Yet even there he built a reputation as a prayer-based problem solver with keen spiritual insight and foresight. Those harsh setbacks didn't embitter him. They seem to have nurtured a greater reliance on and understanding of the Almighty.

So, it was to Joseph that Pharaoh turned when troubled by a dream that seemed important but undecipherable. The dream involved seven fat cows followed by seven lean ones. For the answer, Joseph directed Pharaoh's thought, as well as his own, to the God who is the one all-knowing Mind. "It is not in me," said Joseph. "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace" (Gen. 41:16). Joseph foresaw a coming seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. He was right.

But even more remarkable than his spiritual foresight about the next 14 years, was this—the government and the entire crop-growing public bought into his plan of action. A good point to remember if you become disheartened about Social Security imbalances. Joseph knew it was God Himself speaking to Pharaoh, giving him an answer for the upcoming short-ages. Did Joseph also glimpse God communicating to everyone needing to participate in the planned remedy? A spirit of unity prevailed, with timely, intelligent action; they stored the early surplus to offset the later deficit.

Spiritual facts underpinned that success. Spiritual facts that, today, can help forge the needed consensus. It's a spirit of unity, of clarity and foresightedness, that flows from the one Mind to the family of man. The Christian Science textbook says: "With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethern; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science" (Science and Health, pp. 469–470). With unity of Principle, it's easier to find unity of purpose.

As individuals everywhere turn to the all-knowing Mind, answers for the future take form today—including answers that require unified action. Disastrous results that once seemed inevitable get averted. Solutions, both near-term and long-term, move within reach. And the needed consensus, obtained by turning, Joseph-like, to the one Mind, begins to dawn. css