I think one of the conventions, by which we tend to be fooled more than almost any other,
is time. And for all human beings ‘time’ is a matter of extraordinary importance, and
perhaps this is one of the principle ways between which we differ from animals. Because
man has been called a time binding animal, that is to say, a creature who is vividly
aware of the fact that his life moves, as it where along a line, from the past, through
the present, and into the future. Animals apparently live pretty much moment by moment,
they don't appear to have very strong memories, but because man has a strong memory, he is
able to bear the past in mind, and as it where, cast it forward into visions of the future,
based upon on what has happened in the past. And therefore, although this facility gives
man the most extraordinary ability to plan his life, to prepare for future eventualities,
at the same time, there is a very heavy price which he pays for it, and especially if he
takes this ability to seriously, in other words if he doesn’t realise that the true
reality in which he lives, is the present moment, now. For example, the animal probably
doesn’t concern itself very much with problems of future disease, death or starvation, things
of that kind. If an animal sees another dead animal lying around, I don’t suppose he
thinks to himself well one day that’s going to happen to me. Rather he just sees a dead
animal, sniffs it see whether it’s good to eat and wanders away. But for human beings
it’s entirely different because we actually spend most of our time and a great deal of
our emotional energy living in time which is not here. Living in an elsewhere which
is not concretely real. So much so that although we may be quite comfortable and happy in our
present circumstances, if there is not a guarantee not a promise, of a good time coming tomorrow
and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, we’re at once unhappy even in the midst of pleasure
and affluence. And so we develop a kind of chronic anxiety about time. We want to be
sure more and more because of our sensitivity to the feeling time. We want to be sure more
and more that our future is assured. And for this reason the future becomes of more importance
to most human beings than the present. And in this sense, we are hooked, taken in by
a “Maya”. Because it is of very little use to us, to be able to control and plan
the future unless we are capable at the same time of living totally in the present. And
so when in civilised societies we spend so much of our time living for the future we
become very much like those celebrated donkeys you know, that have a carrot fastened on a
stick that’s tied to the neck you know behind here. And it comes over and there’s the
carrot dangling in front of them, and they pursue it pursue it pursue it but can never
reach it. And so in exactly the same way, it’s that way with us. My goodness, don't
you remember when you went first to school? You went to kindergarten. And in kindergarten,
the idea was to push along so that you could get into first grade. And then push along
so that you could get into second grade, third grade, and so on, Going up and up and then
you went to high school and this was a great transition in life. And now the pressure is
being put on, you must get ahead. You must go up the grades and finally be good enough
to get to college. And then when you get to college, you're still going step by step,
step by step, up to the great moment in which you're ready to go out into the world. And
then when you get out into this famous world, Comes the struggle for success in profession
or business. And again, there seems to be a ladder before you, Something for which you're
reaching for all the time. And then, suddenly, when you're about 40 or 45 years old, in the
middle of life, You wake up one day and say "huh? I've arrived and, by Joe, I feel pretty
much the same as I've always felt. In fact I'm not so sure that I don't feel a little
bit cheated." Because, you see, you were fooled. You were always living for somewhere where
you aren't. And while, as I said, it is of tremendous use for us To be able to look ahead
in this way and to plan. There is no use in planning for a future, Which when you get
to it and it becomes the present you won't be there.
You'll be living in some other future which hasn't yet arrived. And so in this way, one
is never able actually to inherit and enjoy the fruits of ones actions. You can't live
at all unless you can live fully now. And because now is never satisfactory because
we’re never really living in it, we get more and more avid to go ahead and pursue
the future. We develop our technology to a fantastic ability where we can more and more
fulfil our desires for the future almost immediately. Working towards a sort of push-button world.
But have you ever stopped to think, what the world would be like, if you could fulfil every
wish the moment you wish it. Suppose for example, I’m going to bed at night you could always
dream what you wanted to dream. What would happen after a while? Of course I suppose
at first you would dream fantastic pleasures and wonderful adventures fulfilment of all
the things you ever wished. Then as time went on don’t you think you’ll want to be oh
a little bit surprised to have a little bit less control over what was happening to you?
And after you’d experimented with his for some months or years you might even want dreams
in which you suffer. Because there is no real delight, no real fulfilment without delay.
Doesn’t every child know on a hot day you think I’m terribly thirsty and I’d like
an ice cream soda. Haven’t you tried the experiment of putting off drinking it putting
off. So that you get thirstier an thirstier and it’s so much fun when you finally get
to it. And so in the same way, impatience with time. Always wanting the future is frustrating.