What wisdom and insight into truth would your future self want your present self to know and live by? What would you accept and what would you reject or resist?
You may be familiar with the exercise of speaking to your 10-, 15- or 20-year-old self. But how about hearing from your future self? Your self, 10, 15 or 20 years from now? What words of wisdom and insight might your future self have for you? And what words of regret might it have?
My son and I regularly have long and often deep conversations. Recently, we had one of those during which he paused to consider what he might have to say to his 20-year-old self, having had the life experiences he’s had since.
I had earlier talked about how any advice, encouragement and support I’d given him and his sister in the last couple of decades has come out of my own inner journey involving my observation of the nature of the ego and, in contrast, the nature of Love. In our conversation, I said, as I’ve said to both my children many times before, that the understanding and insights I (and others like me) have been sharing with them is not the kind of understanding and insights I had the benefit of when I was their age. And that is indeed a big deal.
Back then, my worldview was shaped by a religious and cultural morality that often cast me as wrong, unworthy, inadequate and only redeemable if I refrained from ‘sin’ or wrongdoing. Ironically, much of this was a clear departure from the teachings of Christ whom my devoutly religious parents, siblings, teachers and community leaders claimed to follow. I would say they didn’t know better.
Today, however, while there are some who will ignore. distort or contest the timelessly true and trustworthy impulse of Love (or God or Infinite Intelligence, call it what you will), there are many of us who have awakened to Love’s compassion, clear-sightedness and ability to reveal truth. And it is in this consciousness of Love that ‘the truth will set you free’ (John 8:31-32).
Hindsight is a great teacher. Why not use it now?
And so, what does such timeless truth tell us? You see, 10, 15 or 20 years from now, this truth will not have changed. Shall we not therefore listen to it now and live by it now, and be free from the illusions of the ego now? Mind you, this is not a once-and-for-all event. No, it is a moment-to-moment, day-to-day, practice of re-mind-ing ourselves, of allowing ourselves, to enter into the consciousness of truth.
And what does such truth tell us?
Well, here are some things:
- You are not your body or mind, your thoughts or actions, your past or future, your failures or triumphs, your culture, race, age or religion or any other human construct and you are most certainly not the sum total of any of this
- You are the very image of God, beginningless and endless, infinite and whole, the very nature of Love
- While there are infinite forms, there is ultimately only once source within which and as which all forms arise and eventually disappear.
All forms exist in an inextricable and interdependent relationship. What you do (or not) to one, you do (or not) to all.
So, if your future self would know these truths and speak with the wisdom of such knowledge, what would it tell your present self? How would it encourage you? What would you listen to? What would you resist and argue against? And, if you contested its knowledge of the truth today, what might your regrets be in the future? 10, 15 or 20 years from now?
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