Future

Much of my time is now spent trying to set the stage for a practical future. Perhaps too much, considering that my future is not going to be all that long by any standard. Yet I persist. 

The challenge of the world as it now functions is maintaining a strong presence in the now, while also be responsible in planning for the future. The fortunate, who can subtract money from this equation, are free to relish the now of entertainment and travel. They can easily lapse into a hedonistic illusion that life is a party for everyone. This lies at the root of much of our social dissonance and discontent right now. 

The allure of the Buddha story is associated in part with the enlightened man's disdain for any material security. The mythological Jesus also lectures against worries about material security. Many people in my generation begged and partied their way through the 1960s and 1970s. Some of these became the ruthless entrepreneurs of the 1980s and 1990s. When their youth and beauty could no longer buy them largesse, they opened a bank account. 

My life seems very short now at sixty-one. It has whizzed by. I spent the first half of my adult life in utter denial of the future. I worked and loved and lived, very much in the present of each day. I was unconcerned with owning much. I moved like a nomad for cheap rents to compensate for modest incomes. And I was happy for most of it.

Like many of my fellow Baby-Boomers, I now look at a road to my end which needs paving, not only for myself but also for at least one special person in my life. I find myself in a country where those in power want to make life less secure for the old and infirm in the name of balancing spreadsheets.The spreadsheets are an excuse for other agendas, of course.

My attitude toward my future is part of what makes me a practical humanist. While adhering to ideals of mindfulness and compassion in the moment, I also know well that I must be practical about my future moments while I have the capability to do so. It is my practical responsibility to do this. I know that capability will diminish as I age.

I am not a Libertarian by any means. I believe in contributing to and collecting from the social security mechanisms of society. I have done both. In fact, I owe my last fifteen years of life to publicly funded medical research and the availability of assistance with medical expenses. However, I do not wish to rely on these mechanisms beyond my ethical need to. I believe it is my responsibility to minimize the impact of my needs on social security mechanisms, which exist for all of us.

My belief in the value of practice, based in mental and physical health, is strengthened as I engage in this process of planning for my future. By remembering to focus on what I am doing right now to maintain my best self, I am also laying the foundation for whatever future comes. This takes the edge of the niggling financial details and keeps me cognizant of the precarious nature of every next moment.