Louisville Process Theology Network

On the Hazards of Seeing the Future

Apr 16, 2010

From Page 86 ---


?“This is a (theoretical) world of changed plans, of sudden opportunities, of unexpected visions. For in this world, time flows not evenly but fitfully and, as consequence, people receive fitful glimpses of the future.

When a mother receives a sudden vision of where her son will live, she moves her home to be near him. When a builder sees the place of commerce of the future, he twists his road in that direction. When a child briefly glimpses herself as florist, she decides not to attend the university. When a young man gets a vision of the woman he will marry, he waits for her . . . What sense is there in continuing the present when one has seen future?

For those who have had their vision, this is a world of guaranteed success. Few projects are started that do not advance a career. Few trips are taken that do not lead to the city of destiny. Few friends are made who will not be friends in the future. Few passions are wasted.

For those who have not had their vision, this is a world of inactive suspense. How can one enroll in university without knowing one?’s future occupation? . . . .

Thus, in this world of brief scenes from the future, few risks are taken. Those who have seen the future do not need to take risks, and those who have not yet seen the future wait for their vision without taking risks.

Some few who have witnessed the future do all they can to refute it. A man goes to tend the gardens at the museum in Neuchatel after he has seen himself a barrister in Lucerne. A youth embarks on a vigorous sailing voyage with his father after a vision that his father will die soon of heart trouble. A young woman allows herself to fall in love with a man even though she has seen that she will marry another.

Such people stand on their balconies at twilight and shout that the future can be changed, that thousands of futures are possible.

In time, the gardener in Neuchatel gets tired of his low wages, becomes a barrister in Lucerne. The father dies of heart trouble, and the son hates himself for not forcing his father to keep to his bed. The young woman is deserted by her lover, marries a man who will let her have solitude with her pain.

Who would fare better in this world of fitful time?

Those who have seen the future and live only one life? Or those who have not seen the future and wait to live life? Or those who deny the future and live two lives??”