Compass of the Times 258

Changing the Future

Keiko Takahashi

Is the Future Merely an Extension of the Present?

How do you think about your own future, the future of your country, or the future of the world?

“People will continue to live as they have lived until now.”

This is a phrase we should all pause to reflect on at some point in our lives because this is precisely how we live.

It is natural and “normal” for us to think of our own future and the future of our country as an extension of the present.

This could be said to be the truth of humanity, and one that has been repeated for a long time.

Is it okay to remain just like that?

The inertia of human nature that creates this in such a way that it becomes “normal” imposes far greater limitations on each person than we might imagine.

If we can only think about the future as an extension of the present, that is a significant loss.

Actually, I believe many people, in fact, already know that the future of their lives and society does not lie in the continuation of the present.

What is important is that humans possess the power to break free from the inertia of the past and live in a future that transcends our imagination, a future that is not an extension of the present.

Our “Normal” Is the Root Cause of Repetition

There is something that can be called the “real culprit” of our repetition of the past.

Everyone, during their lives, develops various obsessions, preconceptions, and fixed ideas, such as:

“This is how it is.”

“Men must be this way.”

“In the end, what matters is money and power.”

“This is what you should do in such situations.”

These are ways of thinking, making judgments, and acting that have become their “normal,” and they are hardly aware of them; most people hold onto many such “normal” ways.

And because they are their “normal” ways, they remain unchanged and are repeated endlessly. Such “normals” form the very foundation of our way of living.

They are like “abominations” that possess us, preventing us from living beyond the extension of our past. At the core of our minds lie the “abominations” of our ways of feeling, thinking, and acting.

These “abominations” influence our reality in a way that is almost like a curse, and they limit our future as well.

I would like you to take a moment to reflect on what you consider your “normal” way. Is it really the way it should be? Do you have any biases or distortions you were once unaware of that have crept into your “normal” way?

Examining this is not easy, but it is something that can be done once you are aware of the existence of “abominations.”

Changing the Future

“Ah, this was my ‘abomination’.”

When you can honestly think that, then the magical bonds of these “abominations” are already almost broken. Simply knowing what kind of “abominations” we are holding onto can free our minds.

Of course, there is the inertia of the past.

Without consciously building new ways of feeling, thinking, and acting one step at a time with a liberated mind, we will quickly be swallowed up by the old inertia. By persistently continuing with a new mind and actions, we can break free from the inertia of our “normal” way and truly create a new way of living.

This is undoubtedly a step toward changing the future.

Our future does not simply continue along a path as an extension of the past. When we free ourselves from the “abominations” we have unknowingly harbored, we can transcend that path and actualize the future that should be. This is how we can change the future.

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