The common way to think of
the continuum of time from past to future is to see it as a directional arrow
or a stack of building blocks. What has
been experienced provides the foundation for what is being experienced. What is being experienced provides the
foundation for what will be experienced.
It’s a nice, closed deterministic system and a kind of mental prison. If I believe in this ladder-like sequence, I
am pretty much trapped in an extension of where I have been and where I am now.
It is only my belief in
this pattern that makes it real. If I
believe that my future can only be a continuation of my present, I have locked
myself into a pattern that seems inevitable.
It feels as if I have no choice but to play out a scenario that is
rooted in my present situation which, in turn was rooted in my past situation. That seems to be the logical result if I believe
that I am inevitably thrust into the future by the momentum of past
experiences.
This tidy scheme of
causality leaves out two essential elements.
One is the element of choice. The
other is the bedrock truth that the present is the only time that exists. The past is a memory. The future is a fantasy. I am conscious now, and only now. Each new moment of now is full of unlimited
potential. It is not determined by what
was unless I choose to believe that it is.
What I expect is what I
get. If I conceive of a radical new
future for myself I will steer my present in that direction. Every expectation will color all of my
choices. My vision of my future will
become a self-fulfilling prophesy. In
every potent moment of now I can choose to validate and reinforce my vision of
the future and continue to create it or I can shift it to a different one and
begin to create that new one. Every
moment is pregnant with possibility if I choose to seize it. I can continue to watch the same program or I
can change the channel to one that I like better. The point is that I get to choose. That is how the future creates the present.
Choose a future that your
heart desires and be the self that you want to be. You have that power and you may invoke that
power at any moment. Your life is your
own work of art. Create boldly. Do it
now.
