24/12/2022
THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE TO LIVE THE PRESENT TO THE FULLEST
When the future is uncertain, the present is filled with insecurity and anxiety. Did you notice that?
Yes, the human being is totally influenced by the future, and it is no exaggeration to say that our present life is shaped by the future.
To better understand, let's imagine something like this. Suppose an airplane with 300 passengers on board is flying right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The flight appears safe, however, there is a fuel leak, and the gauge reveals that the level is rapidly dropping. The remaining fuel is only enough for another hour and there is no place to land.
The passengers start to notice that something is wrong, and everyone is nervous and insecure. In a situation like this, can anyone think: “We're still flying and there's another hour to fly. So let's go watch a movie. Bring more food! Let's eat as much as possible, since we're really going to die!”?
In fact, the plane is still flying, but what will happen after an hour? All that remains is to fall in the middle of the ocean, the future of this plane is of complete darkness.
Passengers who became aware of this future will no longer be able to enjoy any meal and watch any movie. The pleasant trip will give way to fear, panic and total insecurity.
If we compare our life with a plane trip, the take-off will be our birth, flight time our life span, and landing will be the equivalent of death.
The situation of people who live this life without knowing the purpose of life is similar to that of passengers on the above-mentioned flight. The flight is not over yet and everyone can eat and have fun with the plane's entertainment devices, but the fact that the plane has a lot of fuel but without a place to land, makes passengers feel very insecure, anxious and even despairing, which prevent them from feeling the satisfaction of enjoying good food and having fun.
Likewise, as much as we have this life and material possessions that enable us to live comfortably, we do not feel full and lasting happiness because we carry within us insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty regarding death and the after-death, a future that will surely come for all of humanity.
The Buddhist philosophy explains that this uncertainty regarding the afterlife is the root, the basic cause of human suffering and indicates a path to its solution in this life.
This path consists of listening to the Buddhism teaching, to know, clarify questions, understand, practice in everyday life until reaching the certainty that it is possible to obtain full and lasting happiness while we are healthy and have life to fully savor the joys it offers us.
By Kentetsu Takamori, author of the book “Why Do We Live?”
You can purchase the book “Why Do We Live?” in: https://www.waterstones.com/author/alcantara-publishing/4771334