Escape to the Present

Consider a time line.

This time line is fundamentally a mathematical construct. We  contrive a three arbitrary points — a point in the past, a point for the present, and a point in the future.

It is not unusual for people to have the experience of time flowing from the past to the future.

It is even possible for us to think of ourselves as moving from not into the future. Yep, we can get the notion that there is a tomorrow. And we can even have the notion that tomorrow will be hotter than today. That’s the whole business of weather forecasting. One points to a point in the future and then predicts what the temperature and precipitation will be at that future.

Sixty years ago my friends and I would start anticipating a point in the future called Christmas morning. Beginning shortly after Thanksgiving, we would start focusing our hopes and dreams on this future point. We would even change our present time behavior in order to optimize the chances of our hopes for that future to come true.

If one looks through literature there are many references to the value Hope — as well as reference to the condition of those that have no hope.

“To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. ” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian author 1821 – 1881)

“Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Lose hope and you die. They may not bury you for awhile, but without hope you are dead inside. The only way to face the future is to fly straight into it on the wings of hope….hope is the energy of the soul. Hope is the power of tomorrow.” ~ Lewis B. Smedes (Christian author, ethicist, and theologian 1920 – 2002)

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” ~ Helen Keller (American author)

“There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither hope nor love without faith.” ~ Saint Augustine (theologian, philosopher, and the bishop 354 AD – 430 AD)

“There is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for.” ~ Haruki Murakami (Japanese author)

There are many, many more quotes of a similar nature.

This hope that is so important seems to involve a future. A future when Christmas morning can arrive. Or, a future when one can find true love, get accepted into college, have a great art show, win a gold medal, get a better job, or whatever it is one hopes for.

But what happens when the future no longer holds itself out as a possible breeding ground for whatever wonderful thing you hope for? Perhaps you are beginning to see the sim for what it is. Or, perhaps there are so many doomsday possibilities floating around in your head that the prospect of a hope for the future withers on the vine.

Remember the title of this blog? “Escape to the Present.”

When visions of the future make it difficult to hope, then go a different direction. Go orthogonal. Make a 90 degree turn and go in an entirely different direction.

Escape to the Present.

Allow yourself to use the prospect of movement along a line that is orthogonal to the time line. A line that is totally within the present. Don’t worry over much about where that line can go. We know it is starting from the present and moving in a direction at 90 degrees from the usual time line.

You can imagine arrows radiating out from the present into an infinite number of different directions. Each of these directions are orthogonal to the time line. Meaning they happen within the now and have not reliance on a future for their movement.

Can you imagine one of these lines being in the direction of expanding creativity? Or, perhaps entering into stillness and silence. Mindfulness could be another direction.

How about the practice of Coinology? Or, perhaps the direction of enhanced musical flow. Rock painting, jewelry making, and even such activities as posting items for sale on eBay. Just remember the eyes are on another prize — something other than the future.

The fundamental proposition is that even if the future doesn’t support hope, there are an infinite number of directions in the now that can provide of fruitful context for hope.