The irony is there is no such thing as the past or the future it is always a concept in our head. In fact, there has never been a past nor a future
that actually exists -- it is just this moment shimmering in eternity forevermore. That doesn’t mean that the concepts of past or future aren’t useful -- because without them we might become like idiots unable to see patterns repeating themselves and tying ourselves in knots since we were unable to plan for the future nor learn from the past. On closer scrutiny we never leave the present moment even has we reflect on the past and imagine a future, we are always doing that in the “present”. We can’t really stop ourselves from pondering both past and future and their is nothing wrong with that provided that we are aware of living “immediately” as we extract the wisdom from past mistakes and plan for a future that enhances our well being as a means to accessing the presence of now.
"we simply have to do our best while we can"; presumably we need to use our judgment to decide just how much is "our best", since otherwise one can make oneself unhappy and ineffectual by attempting more
Lovely piece. Very clear about the Epicurean living for the moment. Can’t get my head around applying Stocism to the moment. I will read this article in the evening. Thank you.
🙏
The irony is there is no such thing as the past or the future it is always a concept in our head. In fact, there has never been a past nor a future
that actually exists -- it is just this moment shimmering in eternity forevermore. That doesn’t mean that the concepts of past or future aren’t useful -- because without them we might become like idiots unable to see patterns repeating themselves and tying ourselves in knots since we were unable to plan for the future nor learn from the past. On closer scrutiny we never leave the present moment even has we reflect on the past and imagine a future, we are always doing that in the “present”. We can’t really stop ourselves from pondering both past and future and their is nothing wrong with that provided that we are aware of living “immediately” as we extract the wisdom from past mistakes and plan for a future that enhances our well being as a means to accessing the presence of now.
Thanks, Massimo, for a very clear and helpful reflection.
Very lucid essay. Thank you, Massimo.
"we simply have to do our best while we can"; presumably we need to use our judgment to decide just how much is "our best", since otherwise one can make oneself unhappy and ineffectual by attempting more
Lovely piece. Very clear about the Epicurean living for the moment. Can’t get my head around applying Stocism to the moment. I will read this article in the evening. Thank you.