From time to time, I happen to wonder if knowing the future could be a good thing. Some people would like this possibility because they need to be comforted, because they believe they could face their problems with more courage, once they were reassured by a forecast, no matter how vague.
Human beings, more often than not, need a sort of encouragement, need to have someone to tell them that everything is going to be all right. In this way, they feel they might be able to avoid challenges, to would be allowed to create an easier life for themselves.
But my main question is still there: Were the possibility of knowing the future available, would it be positive or negative? Here, no final answer can be given, as there actually isn’t any. I, personally, think that, if I could know what the next weeks, months or years have in storage for me, I probably would lose all enthusiasm, I wouldn’t strive to be creative, to renew and improve myself. I would feel that everything is already laid down, with no choice of mine.
My mind, my will, my endeavor wouldn’t really matter. Not a very pleasant perspective, as far as I am concerned. What do you think? Going deeper into the subject of “possibilities,” of “knowing,” have you ever wondered, “How much of what I believe is true and how much is not-true?” (Not false, just not true. I see a difference, here.) As human beings, we simply need to have certainties in our lives and we might wonder if what we have believed for a long time is actually a reality or if it’s just the fruit of our imagination, the result of our desire to believe.
As a consequence, we might wonder if what we do has a real meaning or if it is just an illusion.
Physicists are telling us that the entire Universe can be considered as a dream, made visible by our choice to observe it. Therefore, it can be interpreted as a manifestation of conscious thought. Quantum physics tells us that reality is not real (material and physical) at all, it’s just an undifferentiated ocean of energy where nothing is stable, where nothing has a shape, where nothing has a mass (substance), where even space and time do not exist.
I apologize if some may find this topic boring or useless. For me it is almost a matter of “life or death,” from a psychological (as well as spiritual) point of view, because “knowing” (as much as we can) is a necessity of the spirit.
The Greek philosopher Socrates said that the only thing he knew for sure was that he knew nothing. Should this be comforting or depressing? In spite of all our studies, our progress etcetera, what do we actually know for certain? You might say that we know that we see images on TV, that we speak to far away people on the phone, that we get light by pressing a switch, that we drive a car. Fine. But... do we understand what is this all about? How important is all this for our deepest needs? How can we practically use it for our spiritual progress? Unless you believe that this material life is all you have (which is certainly not true! God is still there, fortunately!), you cannot be satisfied with the answers given so far. Can something be done? I believe it can. What? You could start by examining yourself, find out what your deepest beliefs are and try to discover how “true” they actually are. It is necessary to become aware of the conditioning previously received. You believe you are not conditioned? Sorry, you are wrong. We are “all” conditioned since birth.
Now it’s time to learn how to discern between what is true and useful and what is not, and start eliminating what is not.
— Elsa Franco Al Ghaslan, a Saudi English instructor
and published author (in Italy), is a long-time
scholar of positive thinking.
E-mail: [email protected]
Blog: recreateyourlifetoday.blogspot.com
