I was talking with someone the other day after a meeting. He shared with me he was anxious to leave and get home to check the mail. He was waiting for a letter (which was a week late) and if it wasn’t in the mailbox, he was going to call the firm’s office. I commented that it was almost 8 o’clock at night and no one would be there to address his concern. Silence. I quipped, “There is always a tomorrow.” He replied, “Ya have to live like there is no tomorrow.”
He is right. There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow is an idea. It does not exist, it will never exist. To have thoughts about a tomorrow is to invite dissatisfaction. The future, as we script it in our imagination, never comes to pass the way we envision it. Tomorrow will always fall short when compared to those vividly crafted dreams reworked to perfection.
I am right. Another day will dawn. There will be another moment beyond this one. Though this moment is what matters the most, it does not stay still. It evolves into another moment. And another. Eventually the moon will settle against the horizon and give way to a rising sun. What is not a given is that I, a sentient being, may not be here to experience the next day.
Most people create a tomorrow in which they exist in it. I believe it is from this premise we set ourselves up for continuous disappointment, or constant suffering. Attachment occurs when I believe my existence is crucial to the sun rising in the morning. Illusions begin when I act on the belief that the waxing of the moon requires my existence. Such nonsense. Yet we all go about our days making choices and taking action based upon this silliness. Want to live like there’s no tomorrow? Then live in this moment. And nothing more.
No comments:
Post a Comment