I Could Be Wrong, But...
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The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be
©2009 David Boyne"I am a very old man and have suffered a great many misfortunes,
most of which never happened." Mark Twain
I could be wrong, but the more I swim through this wave-tossed world of forms, and watch others around me doing the same, the more I suspect that everything we think is real—we have imagined.
In other words, we are making everything up as we go along.
Granted, this is just one dumb schmuck’s opinion. Yet, if I dress my opinion in a fancy name, it may get some respect. So call it, Free Will. Or, The Creator-Created Dynamic. Or, Owners Manual? What Frigging Owner’s Manual?
As I learned a long time ago, while crossing the Great Salt Flats of Utah, driving a big U-Haul truck and trailer loaded with every one dear to me, and every thing I had used credit card debt to acquire, no matter which turns we take, no matter how many detours detour us, no matter what shortcuts we try, All Roads Lead to Where We Are Going.
Life Is A Road Trip.
(Curiously, everything I’ve ever learned of lasting value fits on, and is often found on, a bumper sticker.)
Be that as it may.
Surprizingly, the metaphorical vehicle carrying all of us on our Road Trip, is not, as they believe here in Southern California, a car. It is a boat. Surprisinglyer, we are not each riding in our own boat—but are all, every single one of us—riding in the same big ferryboat.
Surprisinglyest, we are all riding on the Ferryboat of Life facing backward. As we sit facing backward on the Ferryboat of Life, we can turn our head 90-degrees to the right, or 90-degrees to the left, and all we can see is—for a split-moment of infinity—RIGHT NOW.
Everything else—is PAST. Gone. Behind. Over. History. Memory. Done.
Surprisinglyester, while we are being blindly carried into the Future, the course the Ferryboat of Life follows is being set RIGHT NOW, moment to moment, by each of us, individually, and collectively, separately, but equally.
We have two ways to think of, and to think up, the Future.
Way One: When we see the cosmic pint of the Future as half-full, we think happy, positive, creative thoughts. This makes us feel happy, positive, and creative RIGHT NOW.
Way Two: When we see the cosmic pint of the Future as half-empty, we think unhappy, anxious, fear-filled thoughts. This makes us feel unhappy, anxious, and fear-filled RIGHT NOW.
(Sorry to interrupt, but I have always wondered: Where’s the missing half of the pint? Who drank the beer that isn’t there? Why is the cosmic pint of the Future never full? Why can’t we ever have our own, gloriously full pint, instead of always having to drink someone’s leftovers?)
Be that as it may. I shall explore those questions in a Future I have yet to make up.
Back on point: Whether we imagine a Good Future or a Bad Future, we start living in it RIGHT NOW.
(Just another way of saying, We are making everything up as we go along. )
We have two ways we can create, i.e., make up what we make up.
Way One: We can create by default. Because whoever-whatever made us up, made us up that way.
Way Two: We can create by design. Because whoever-whatever made us up, made us up that way, too.
Call it Free Will. Or, The Creator-Created Dynamic. Or, Owner’s Manual? What Frigging Owner’s Manual?
Yet, even as we ride the Ferryboat of Life making up our Present, we are squirming in our seats, trying to catch a glimpse of our Future. At times we become so restless, so anxious to know what will be before it has become, that all we can think of is charging to the bridge, disconnecting the autopilot, and seizing control of the helm.
We are dying to know the Future.
Why? What does the Future hold? And while we’re on the subject, what holds the Future?
What if we did know the Future? Wouldn’t we still be stuck in the RIGHT NOW? If we knew the content of the Future, wouldn’t we still be left with the same two choices? To accept it. Or try to change it.
And if we did somehow manage to change the Future, would not that make it once again unknown to us? Leaving us no choice but to settle down and contentedly watch RIGHT NOW whooshing by into the Past, while imagining our course into the Future?
But that’s just one dumb schmuck’s opinion. When it comes to predicting the Future, your guess is as good as mine.
Time flows in one direction, Forward. But since we can only live RIGHT NOW—the Ferryboat of Life carries us Forward into our Past.
Huh?
Imagine it this way: We passengers are free to roam about the Present on the Ferryboat of Life, and to water ski in its ever-expanding wake, and swim in the Sea of the Past. But there’s no helicopter onboard that we can jump in and fly ahead to scout the Future. And even if we could, it would do no good. Because we individually and collectively, separately but equally, have not made the Future up yet.
There is no there, there. Ever.
Be that as it may.
Whether we imagine a Good Future or a Bad Future, we start living in it RIGHT NOW.
(Just another way of saying, We are making everything up as we go along.)
Hey, kids! Here’s something you can try at home! Think about something you’ve learned to do while riding backward on the Ferry of Life:
It does not have to be something society thinks of as BIG, like Edison’s 1,001 attempts to create a sustainable incandescent light-bulb. The thing you learned to do can be something small, something personal. Like learning how to tie your shoe. Or learning how to invent Velcro so kids in the Future would not have to learn to tie their shoes. Or learning to ride a bicycle. Or learning to make love so that your partner enjoys it, too. Or learning to buy foreclosed single-family homes with an FHA mortgage, only 3.5% down, and the calculated intent to sell for a profit at or near the next peak of the market.
Now ask yourself: Did I know how to do what I wanted to do before I did it?
You did not know how to do what you wanted to do before you did it. You found out how to do it—by doing it. By your inspired and innovative and perfectly flawed efforts, you made it up as you went along. (This is why Picasso wisely said, “Computers are worthless; all they have is answers.”)
Whether we know it or not, whether we are aware of the work or not, every breath we take, every move we make, every thought we think, we are making it up as we go along.
Make It Up As You Go Along must be lastingly useful, as it fits on a bumper sticker.
And I suspect, should I ever find the frigging owner’s manual, the only thing written in it will be, Make It Up As You Go Along.