Every morning hundreds of people read their horoscopes in this country. The degree to which they take it seriously varies. But there is one constant, since the beginning of mankind, we have been fascinated by the prospect of fortelling the future.
Many people put a lot of stock in the Nostradamus and the Mayan Prophecies, even though most people don't quite have the right information on that thanks to the hype of the media. There have been countless forms of divination in most cultures over the centuries.
This Fall a new show started on TV called Flash Forward. The premise of the show is that for 2 minutes and 17 seconds everyone in the world blacked out and had a vision of their life for the same 2 minutes and 17 seconds six months in the future. Some saw something good and some didn't. Being familiar with the book the show is based on, I know what caused the black out, but not to worry, I won't spoil it for you if you're watching the show. I will say this much, if the show adheres to the book, it's probably not what you think it is. It's a far fetched but fresh plot device.
So now the show asks the question, if you knew the future what would you do? Would you try to prevent what you saw? Would you try to create what you saw? Or would you just let fate play out the way it's meant to despite what you saw?
I personally don't believe we can ever get a clear and accurate picture of our future, and quite frankly I have no interest in trying. But if we could...what would we do?
There are certain things about our future that we don't need a crystal ball to discern. If we don't change our ways both our planet and our society are heading for downfalls.
If we look back at history, every civilization falls. They usually all fall from the same mistakes. Immorality, egocentricity and greed. These are the three main causes of disease, wars, and overuse of resources. But as a race we seldom learn from our past mistakes. We still think we are more indestructible and enlightened than our predecessors, which is rarely the case.
So why then are we so interested in knowing the future? If we could accurately see our futures would we be the cause of bringing about what we saw? Would it be a matter of self fulfilling destiny. On the flip side of that coin, can we avoid fate?
I guess it all comes down to what you believe. Is our personal future a predetermined path we follow or is it up to us to make the right choices?
I have often heard people say "If I only knew then what I know now..." But would you really make a different choice if you knew?
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4 comments:
I'm spending some time catching up on blogs this morning. Just wanted to let you know I stopped by. You have an interesting, thought provoking post today.
Not certain what my answer is - would be - - - but will think about it for awhile.
After this last month or two my thoughts will mean more now than if I had not had to 'face life' in reality.
Thanks for giving me reason to 'think'.
I just try to live in the now, you know, never wished I was a different age or anything, so don't think I would try to change it, what else would be affected? And with everything else always changing who's to say that that moment remained the same if you revisited it?
Read your blog all the time so think I better go ahead and list it on my blog:) Can't keep all the fun to myself!
I am one of those people that often thinks 'if only Id known..' but when you really, really think about it, it's the bad horrible things in my life that have led me onto the path to the good things in my life - my daughters and my partner. If I went back and changed the bad stuff would I would be without 2 of my daughters and would my path cross with my partner? Would I be the stronger person I am now or would I still be that gullible mug... you can wish your life away but you would wish away some very important bits by doings so. I wish maybe I could have done some things slightly differently but I don't know what effect that would have on the ones dearest tio me. Best thing as Darlene said, for me, is to live in the now. And for the now.
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