Changing the way we view the future?

Can you travel back in time, not centuries, but into your living past and alter something that will change yourself in the present?

by Victor Cherubim 

It may seem a strange time, with a week away from Christmas, to think, if not write about the future, especially during a pandemic that has changed people’s lives.

But, that’s what we naturally do every time, to escape the trauma that we have gone through and are going through in UK and around the world.

We want to connect, be part of the big picture. Our characteristic human nature seem impotent to take a grip, unable to control our lives, control the pandemic, particularly the Omicron positive 95,000 casualtiesyesterday (19.12.21), in England.

People seem unable to communicate their crisis let alone control, the British government, or their parliamentarians, who are storm bent on not listening to science to control the virus, or even the economy. We cannot even control the climate in the Philippines,or shall I say, the debt repayments, or even the explosion of our gas cylinders in Sri Lanka. 

Expecting the best is a mind-setof gratitude for which we have vivid anticipation of better things, better times to come. This naturally improves our satisfaction with life – a positive focus on the future.

Delving into our past

Can you travel back in time, not centuries, but into your living past and alter something that will change yourself in the present?

Can you travel into your future and alter your present?

Eastern mystics and I knew one called Yogaswami, the late ascetic of Nallur, Jaffna, when I was a kid. My Late Dad would be sitting at the verandah or porch of our home and low and behold, the mystic would pass-by Main Street. He would hurriedly pause, greet and respect my Dad with hands clasped over his head,a traditional customary honour reserved for deity. To put this HinduSage, at ease -“The Satguru of the Tamils”- my Dad would humbly respond, “How are you this morning”? The response he gave resonates in my mind, over more than half a century later. The Sage replied, “Iyah, el laamMudinthathu”? In literal translation, “everything is over”? In metaphorical language, “It isComplete” In layman’s language, and today explained in detail by David Miller, Centre for Time, University of Sydney, Australia, who expresses the view that “the future and the past are not any different, sothere is no reasonwhy you cannot have causes from the future, just as you have causes from the past”. All intriguing stuff, mind you. 

Delving into our past is indeed a good way to deal with the present. But psychologists warn us not “to get stuck,” there. 

What then about the future?

Can you travel back into your past and alter something that will change yourself in the present?

Can you travel in to your future and alter your present?

Albert Einstein and many Eastern mystics explain from different standpoints, that what we call the past, present and the futureare an illusion or “maayam” or is it mayhem? It is a fabric of space and or time, in which all exist seamlessly together?

How can we cross the present mayhem? 

There is no reason to beat ourselves over past financial or other failure, or mistakes?

Everything is a learning curve, designed to teach us “something”?

We in Sri Lanka need to be positive and focus on our long term goals. We have to live in alignment with the energy and relationships we deserve. We will no doubt, need to make some adjustments. What ideas we have today could surely result in positive financial outcomes in the future, if we have done our homework and are able to help ourselves? Life is not a popularity contest for our citizens. Neither is it a race to the finish line?

Delayed Gratification

“People everywhere around the world, over 50 to 100 years have tended to view their lives through the prism of the past, the present or the future perspective”. 

Most people view their circumstances with mixed feeling. Whether they are struggling with painful memories of losing their dear loved ones to the variants of the the pandemic, or the current challenges of all the exchange control restrictions resulting in the cost of living, or the worries of our repayments of our debts on time in the new year.

They all seem naturally concerned rather than content.

Would it be too much to be consoled by the fact that Humanity, or call it the IMF or what you will, cannot afford to let our country sink into the ocean, or rather the “ocean of despair,” whether we take it or not?

It in my opinion, a lesson in delayed gratification. 

Three types of Orientation

1. People with a predominantly “Past Mindset” will continue to exist in a “warped world orientation” of memories and experiences, whether they were pleasant or traumatic. Who am I to change them?

2. People who live in the present are as we notice, totally immersed and absorbed by current events, without consideration of future consequences, and barely considering past experiences.

3. People who live in the future orientation, often fail to notice the present time, will often, think only of the future.