Present Perfect – Now Is The Time

Tell me a little about your great-grandmothers on your mother's side.

That's alright. I can't either.

We all live in the present. My new great-granddaughter Amalya will live in the present. My ancestor, Shlah Hakodesh,ⁱ lived in his present. We pretend that it's not true of us – that we are working to prepare a better world for our children and grandchildren – but we're fooling ourselves.ⁱⁱ Did our ancestors prepare for us?ⁱⁱⁱ The real truth is that they were concerned with their own problems, and the reality is that we're thinking about ourselves, not our descendants.

It's true of all of us – we live “now.” But what that means is a little more confusing.

If I never knew my great-grandmothers, you can be certain that I can't tell you much about the time before I was born, apart from what's in history books and in cosmology texts. The eternity that preceded me is all but a blank slate, and the eternity that will follow me is even more so. We live between eternities.^iv With the help of “futurists” we can make some intelligent guesses about what is likely in the very near future, but that period, one that is disappearingly short, will have no ultimate significance and will fade into a similarly unknown past very quickly. The truth is that we cannot change the past^v nor know the future. So why bother?

In many ways – in almost all ways – we're like the “lower” animals. They, too, live in the present. They go about their lives as their instincts direct, with no consideration^vi of the past or the future. “Death” doesn't exist for them. Nor do previous generations.^vii At least not as far as we know. Those ideas – especially the concept of death – are burdens of which we alone are aware, and which we have to bear. In that respect, our ability to think and understand are psychologically harmful to us.

Why do we have this capability? What is its origin? The scientists who have described it and who study it are not certain how it came about, but the reality is that we have it. We are conscious of more than just the elements of survival, we're aware of the irrelevant features of our world – the optional ones that pique our interest or affect our emotions; we're capable of understanding, analyzing, and planning. And we know more. So those abilities extend far beyond what was available to our predecessors. Perhaps that's a good thing, but often it isn't. It should be, however we're too often controlled by our own desire to do what we've always done: to live now.

We have the opportunity and the ability, limited as it may be, to plan ahead. Unfortunately, instead of looking for the best answers, we often look for the fastest. We want immediate gratification and quick answers. We don't want to think. It's better to get all the information prepared for us. Whether it takes the form of fast food, Google, or Cliff's Notes, we can't wait. That's what makes us so susceptible to ready-made information – whether it's from the media, the “smart” phone, or grandma. And that's why we're always looking down, at the devices in our hands.^viii We're forever texting or using our latest “apps.” Part of the reason is that we can't tolerate solitude or silence. We live only in the present, but we protect ourselves from it. Any distraction will do.

Some believe they are doing otherwise. They're working to make the world better. Better, of course, means the way they want it to be. Too often they're satisfying their own egos without solving any of the real problems we face. They're spending much of their time arguing with other people who would make the world better by doing the opposite of what they propose. We allow current dogma to dictate the stands we take, even though, and especially because, we don't always understand the underlying issues. We believe the “party-line” ideas to be the best approach available now. If we, or our children have to change those ideas later because they don't work or if they're harmful, so be it. We want to believe that it's about the future, but the present, now, is the focus of our thinking. And we, not them, want to decide what that will be like.

You don't remember your great grandmothers? They didn't know you either. Whatever dreams they may have had about their descendants, they had neither the knowledge nor the conceit to think they could do so. And chances are they would have guessed wrong about the way the world would look, and who we are and what we need. As Yogi Berra said, “It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

So it makes sense to live now. It's hard enough to get things right for ourselves. Amalya will do very well without our help. And her great grandchildren without hers.

Next episode:  “42” – The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.  (see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)

I        Author of “Shnei Luchot Habrit” hence Shlah. (Hakodesh means the holy one.) Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz was born in 1565 and died about 1630.

ii        If we really cared about them and their future we'd think twice before increasing the national debt that some generation in the future will have to deal with.

iii      For example, and it's only an example, what steps did our predecessors in the sixth century (BCE or CE – your choice) take to make our lives better? Did they even think about it?

iv       At least that's what the scientists say. But do they know any better than the rest of us?

v        As Big Brother would tell you, that's not really true. All you have to do is erase a few lines from the history books and you'll change the past. At least what people believe it to be.

vi        Of which we're aware.

vii       It's somewhat presumptuous of me to believe that animals can't think and plan, and that they have no knowledge comparable to ours, but that is the commonly held view. While evolution relies on efforts of the individual to ensure the longevity of the species, that is by instinct, not thought. We recognize our inability to converse with them, but that may be our weakness, not theirs.

viii     I was on the subway recently and all I saw in front of me were people looking down at their phones or their tablets. Actually that's an overstatement. Some were sitting with their eyes closed and their earbuds open. When I was young there was a lineup of open newspapers. It was the same phenomenon of distraction from reality, but at least it required more active participation.