It is good to be alive in such an exciting era of the world – the modern age really has begun to set in, and there has never been a better time to gain knowledge and insight. But at the same time, I wonder if everyone realizes just how dangerous the future can be. Now I’m not one who bites his nails about the future. There have always been doomsayers, and they always turn out to be consistently wrong. The people who fret about the future also conveniently happen to be the crankiest and nerve-wracked. The wisest men of antiquity and the ancient world have always paid attention to the present moment and planned moderately for the future, rather than fretting excessively about what is really an open question.
I’m not the biggest fan of science fiction, but I still wonder if humanity can indeed reach the technological advancement of the worlds envisaged in all the literature available. We must remember that human history is an extremely short time; in terms of civilization we’ve barely passed 6000 years, a mere speck on this Earth’s billion-years history. Should we lose everything we have achieved in such a short time, it would indeed be a real tragedy. The writers of the Avatamsaka Sutra, who had visions of a trillion-world cosmos populated with powerful beings and bodhisattvas, understood well Earth’s cosmic role, Earth’s long-term role. I question whether many people do take seriously the long-term livability of the world, or if they have simply become indifferent. we often speak of ‘for the generations to follow’, or ‘for our children’s children’. But how often do we say ‘Our children’s children’s children’s children’s children’? Is it possible for us to be that far-sighted, or is it unrealistic to look so far ahead? I really think we should though, because it is what we intended it to be; it’s just that we lost track of how short our history is that we’ve failed to appreciate how careful and meticulous we must be to ensure the future of Earth is a livable one.
Just some random thoughts.
Your last thoughts are the most important, we are so busy thinking about the future we forget we must look after what we have now in order for any kind of imaginable future to be possible. Can man live without nature? of course not! but somehow we think we can.
I try to remember that the future is nothing more than a collection of “nows.”
When we take care of “now,” we take care of the future.
Everything we’ve said in this session is actually common knowledge – intellectually we all recognize these things. It’s just that we seem to forget so often, sometimes subconsciously.
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation :) Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Pretension.