What would you do if there was no tomorrow
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This is the type of philosophic question that catches my fancy!
That saying "live life to the fullest as if this was your last day," has more truth to it than we can comprehend, because, really, there is no tomorrow. As of today, tomorrow is just a figment of our imagination!
We live by the premise that because we had a yesterday we'll also have a tomorrow. It's conceptually impossible to think in terms of today only, to accept that our life doesn't exist beyond the present minute. We can comprehend the concept, but it's extremely hard to sustain it emotionally. Empirically it's true, though. Today is yesterday's tomorrow, but it only exists today; today's tomorrow it just a necessary belief, albeit a reasonable one. When we move forward, tomorrow moves out of grasp, as unreachable as the horizon, because it doesn't exist yet, save in our minds.
Philosophically, this would transform the original question to "what are you doing today, considering you don't know if there will be a tomorrow?"
I'm sure I didn't answer the question, not really, but all the same, I had fun with the reply!
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Isn't it? I love to wrap my mind around this type of conceptual issue. I call it mental gym :-)
You're very right – tomorrow is what ought to remain for the future generations, if we the ones who live in the present manage to grasp the concept!
I'm afraid most of us are to conditioned to seek instant personal gratification regardless of the consequences to the generations to follow.
If the state of the world is any indication, you are most definitely right. What's worse, this is one of the topics where it's easy to see the mote in others' eyes and very difficult to see the beam in one's own. In other words, it's easier to criticize irresponsible, thoughtless behaviors than try hard to avoid them in ourselves.
Indoctrination Elena, indoctrination. I don't know what it's like in Spain but in amerika it's brainwashing from birth. I have struggled with it all my life. Today I can see the reasons clearly.
I guess I could say things are not too different in my neck of the woods when it comes to personal, immediate gratification. The advent of mass communication makes that particular "message" equally strong in both sides of the Atlantic.
I think, however, that there are fundamental differences in how we approach topics such as education, health, social issues at large. In that regard, "indoctrination" and "brainwashing" may still not be at a peak in Spain. I'd say, in very general terms, people still "care" here. Whether "caring" comes from conscious critical thinking or from cultural background, that is a big question mark, but I'd put my money on cultural background given the choice. Still, it's good news that our background makes it tougher work for "doctrines" to take hold.
Elena- I have worked hard and sacrificed parties(and so on). Only for the fact that tomorrow I will have a better future. I have even saved money for surviving tomorrow. If tomorrow doesn't happen then probably I wouldn't have lived my life so far the way I did. Nice perspective to think about.
Hi CW! It's not just you, most of us live in "preparation" for tomorrow. It doesn't mean we don't "live the present", but we get degrees, save money, get insurance etc etc because observation and experience tell us that there will actually be a tomorrow. We have evidential certainty that today flows into the next day.
The perspective I present here is a brain-teaser that plays with conceptual certainty. Conceptually, "tomorrow" is an *assumption*, as CWB well said. It aims at making one think exactly what you thought :-) "Would you do the same things you're doing today if you didn't ASSUME that there would be a tomorrow?"
Elena- When I was a student I met some students who were more into living the moment and enjoying it. They would say tomorrow would take care of itself. I wonder what those people are doing now. But yes we need to enjoy a little bit everyday as tomorrow is still not an absolute certainty and we shouldn't regret tomorrow that we didn't enjoy enough yesterday. As my father used to take us on long train journeys during vacations and he would tell about local stations and so on. He used to say happiness is not in the destination but in the journey. I guess some where during my life I have focused more on the destination then the journey. This hub is really making me think. Good Job.
Hi Elena,
I browsed your hubs and this one just grabbed me by my collar. Yes, yes, yes. Tomorrow is just an illusion. There is no other moment in our hands except the present moment. The concept of living in the "now" is not about forgetting to plan for the future. Faith in tomorrow, certainly we should have that, otherwise what will our plans be about? But let me go back to the "now" moment. Because of the way we were "indoctrinated" by our respective societies, we panic if we haven't saved enough for the future, haven't achieved the goals that we set because we never thought of our "future" and so on. The irony of all the indoctrination is that the reality of the "now" moment as the only living moment there is, is the fact that we have been trained to worry over that moment that is still an illusion. So we haven't mastered the art of truly living because we are consumed or shall I say, obsessed with tomorrow, hence the fears of the unknown, the anxieties and all that. Living in the moment is not about being irresponsible as not to be planning for tomorrow. It is about focus. It is about relishing the beauty or pain or joy of what is. It is in fact building the most stable foundation of tomorrow because we are living the fullness of today. We do not procrastinate. We do not postpone loving, forgiving, creating beauty and all the meanings that we need to weave into everything that we do.
Well, damn, franciaonline, you ought to write a hub on this one, you do better in you comment than I do in my hub! Seriously!!!
I think you and I understand each other perfectly well! Muchas gracias for providing such thoughtful and in-depth comment! I really appreciate it!
Thank you, Elena, that my comment made sense. Yeah, I see it too that my thoughts are aligned with yours. Kindred spirits, I think!
I'm here again, Elena! I stumbled on a beautiful video with a spirit that is very similar to your hub "What would you do if there were no tomorrow". Please just click this link to watch and listen to the video:
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Beautiful, franciaonline! I wish I could say all these things are true about me! Some definitely are, but I think where I most fail is "I am kind and friendly to myself when things go wrong". It's an inspiring video, makes one stop and think about what's important in the here and now, thanks for posting it!!
My tomorrow stopped a few years back...
Hi needful things -- that sounds very sad. Still, you're here today, so you're in motion even if your tomorrow ceased to move with you.
Hate to bring this up, but 9/11 was the worst possible reminder that there truly is no tomorrow - only today, only now. Yes, one needs to store *some* nuts to be able to eat in the future, but how sad when people focus on nothing else. How much they miss *right now*, never realizing NOW is all they ever have. I haven't quite mastered living in the moment, but am much better at it than I used to be. Back when I believed certain friends and loved ones would live forever, which of course they didn't.
But unlike Needful Things, I refuse to let my life stop with another's passing. The Love of My Life in particular. Naturally I'd love to spend a few minutes or a day with him again, but I also know this was not the only life we've shared, that we'll be together again in the next. So instead of running around madly storing nuts for the future this time around, I collect bits of wisdom and joy to carry into that life. I do that by savoring little things that many don't consider precious or miss totally because they're too busy worrying about the tomorrows that may never happen, or lamenting yesterday's losses.
Hi Jama -- the fact that there is only NOW is what I tried to capture in the hub --it's exactly like you say, now you're here and then you're not. Just, for many of us (not to say all) it's practically impossible to think there isn't a tomorrow. I'm going to bed now, and shesh, I think there'll be a tomorrow!
Philosophically, however, it's just the way you said: grasp the now, live the now, that is a certainty that we have, the today. The rest is a pure figment of our imagination and basing a life on it is insane, in my opinion.
'Tomorrow is the today we worried about yesterday.' Someone famous said that, but not me, though I liked it. Enjoyed the truth of your hub also. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure, frogyfish :-)
I think you blew my mind with this one. Although I agree completely! LOL, there is no tomorrow unless we believe.
k@ri, I think I blew my own mind when I wrote this one :-) But like you said, mind blowing as it sounds, it's quite accurate :-)
Tomorrow comes every day... or does it? If we are living inside yesterday's tomorrow, where on earth is today?
Tomorrow comes everyday except for those who die today. Then it doesn't, does it? Or does it, because it's still coming for those who are alive?
tHIs Is VerY intereStiNg i To haVe notHinG To AnSweR ThIs quEstion?????
To me, living as if there were no tomorrow means living right now and without regret. Yet I dream as if I were to live forever. Or, as I put it, just in case I'll be here another 60 years... but if not, oh well, never mind, because I had fun today ;-)
Imagine if we were to be here forever, Roman! Somehow I think that would put a little hamper of living without regrets! :-)
ColdWarBaby 3 years ago
I think "tomorrow" is one of the most important assumptions we make. In fact, I believe we need to give it a lot more consideration than we currently do. It’s what we leave to our children.
Thought provoking.