Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Experience and expectation

Oh, my goodness! Do read this and give it some careful thought. It's an amazingly powerful observation:

When we look back at our experience, we can see so clearly its ephemeral, dreamlike nature. Yet when we look ahead, when we look to the future, somehow (and this is the great enchantment) we get dazzled by all the possibilities that are there waiting for us as if the next event in our lives, the next sitaution, the next project, the next reationship, the next meal, even on meditation the next breath ... we live our lives in anticipation of the next hit of experience as if the one that's coming will finally do it for us. What's so strange is that nothing up 'til now has brought that sense of real completion or fulfillment. So why are we so seduced into thinking that the next one will? This is a very strange phenomenon.

-- Joseph Goldstein

2 comments:

  1. Pieces of music arrive at a climax. So do dramas. It feels logical. I think that's one of the reasons why we expect life will do the same.

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  2. That's a good and helpful observation, Cathy. Thanks!

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