Past, Present, and Future: Anxiety

[Anvil]

"The future is a concern at the present, but only when looking to the past do we see the senselessness of our anxiety."

I said this earlier today, and after further pondering, I figured I might as well post it here.

The worry that we put ourselves through over the future sometimes makes us forget that the present is what really deserves our attention. This statement applies in many areas.

For example, every day life. We dwell on the things that we plan for, or wish to happen in the near, or distant future. But is there a time when it becomes too much and has us forget that sometime in the past we hoped for what we have at the present? We forget that we intended to enjoy what we currently have, but instead we are again stuck in the future.

In politics, we hope for the future to give us something better than what we currently have. But we can't get to that future without action at the present. But thinking back we realize that we should have done something, rather than sat there and done nothing.

Not just politics but again in daily life. We find ourselves wishing we had done this or that in the past, but make no further effort to better ourselves at the present to help the future.

Your thoughts?

 

[Seditious]

"The future is a concern at the present, but only when looking to the past do we see the senselessness of our anxiety."

I said this earlier today,

I have no clue what "The future is a concern at the present" means, but I disagree with it.

I can't find the quote but someone once noted 'depression is always of the past, and anxiety of the future' which has been less concisely affirmed widely.

personally I'm too Buddhist in my psychology to even imagine 'anxiety of the present,' for anxiety is mutually exclusive with the present.

The worry that we put ourselves through over the future sometimes makes us forget that the present is what really deserves our attention.

agreed.

edit:
hell, how can I leave any mentioning of the now go without word from Eckhart Tolle... "The more you are focused on time-past and future-the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is."

"All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present."

"You may find it hard to recognised that time is the cause of your suffering or your problems. You believe that they are caused by specific situations in your life, and seen from a conventional viewpoint, this is true, but until you have dealt with the basic problem-making dysfunction of the mind- its attachment to past and future, and denial of the now- problems are actually interchangable."

 

[Anvil]

I have no clue what "The future is a concern at the present" means, but I disagree with it.

"At the present, a main concern is the future..."


Easier to understand if worded differently?

 

[NegativeVolume]

I'm inclined to agree that worrying of the future is unfortunately a big deal. I can honestly say the fact that I have finals in 3 weeks is causing me problems right now...well, starting tomorrow because I'm procrastinating at the moment

But I know plenty of people who are so wrapped up with saving money for something, getting prepped for an exam or an interview, and other general pointing towards the future that they unfortunately do not have the time to really care about the now. I'm sure we've all been victim of it at one point or another, it's just a matter of how much this concept creeps into your world as life goes on. I'm almost tempted to make the argument that this definition of anxiety is the heart and soul of America these days. Gotta go to work to get the cash to pay the bills so I can do it all again next month...just a glorified way of survival really.

Neat quote though, that whole "Future is a concern of the present..."

 

[OldScratch]

But I know plenty of people who are so wrapped up with saving money for something, getting prepped for an exam or an interview, and other general pointing towards the future that they unfortunately do not have the time to really care about the now. I'm sure we've all been victim of it at one point or another, it's just a matter of how much this concept creeps into your world as life goes on. I'm almost tempted to make the argument that this definition of anxiety is the heart and soul of America these days. Gotta go to work to get the cash to pay the bills so I can do it all again next month...just a glorified way of survival really.

Curious that people would remain so anxious(if pathologically so)in a time when survival is essentially a given. There are so many layers of aid and assistance, so much largesse... But we have grown accustomed to a very pampered, comfortable lifestyle. One with new cars, huge homes, over-priced designer clothing, extravagant appliances and every conceivable creature-comfort and convenience. One that requires a large income and more than likely a hefty debt to maintain.
By and large we no longer work toward anything in the western world, other than a comfortable existence itself. Loftier goals seem to have fallen completely out of favor.
What other society would spend so much time moaning about the so-called "underprivileged" or perpetual third world strife and squalor, but one that itself has exponentially more than it really needs to actually survive in the first place. Odd that only decades ago this was hardly the case...how quickly we forget. And how fortunate for us we have the luxury to do so! Yet, the anxiety meds fly off the shelves...

 

[Blowtus]

Anything we choose to do, we do because of what we believe it's effect will be on the future. No? How can one be said to live in the now and another in the future? Seems to me it would provide more insight to consider the matter in terms of short and long term future. Conscious decisions imply a view of the future, however short the perspective may be.

So - what makes the short term future more worthy of consideration than the long term? Granted, our assesment of it is surely more accurate, and we have less scope for 'anxiety' (thought???) as there are reduced potentials for consideration - but in suggesting any assesment of the future is worthwhile (because we have needs / desires I imagine) it would seem irrational to ignore the potential furtherance of our needs and desires in the future, through assesment in the present.

A balanced perspective of the future and the acceptance of 'negative' potentials as a part of life is where I would wish to stake my claim

 

[judas69]

Because the future is anticipatory only and never anything concrete, it will either inspire hope in the individual or fear (depending only on ones personality and situation or whatever) and for both, a lot of unnecessary anxiety as mentioned. Thus, it is better for a mind to focus and hold on to what is real and concrete in the present, then bother with unsettled probability.

 

[Seditious]

"At the present, a main concern is the future..."


Easier to understand if worded differently?

definitely much more coherent.

 

[Anvil]

Because the future is anticipatory only and never anything concrete, it will either inspire hope in the individual or fear (depending only on ones personality and situation or whatever) and for both, a lot of unnecessary anxiety as mentioned. Thus, it is better for a mind to focus and hold on to what is real and concrete in the present, then bother with unsettled probability.

Agreed.

 

[Blowtus]

Because the future is anticipatory only and never anything concrete, it will either inspire hope in the individual or fear (depending only on ones personality and situation or whatever) and for both, a lot of unnecessary anxiety as mentioned. Thus, it is better for a mind to focus and hold on to what is real and concrete in the present, then bother with unsettled probability.

Is the absence of anxiety better for the mind than the fulfillment of desired goals? Would it not be 'best' for the mind in that case to simply cease to be?

 

[judas69]

Is the absence of anxiety better for the mind than the fulfillment of desired goals?

Does there need to be this trade-off? I think if you instead work with that which is workable, you can still acheive your goals with much less anxiety. In otherwords, what does anxiety add to the whole process? and does the end result justify needless worry?

Our anxiety really stems from not knowing, and the present anticipation and desire to know and to move ahead with future knowledge, which is precicely impatience. So, the deeper you move into the probabilistic future, (1) the more uncertain your knowledge becomes (2) the more probability there is to consider, and of course all the anxiety that naturally follows.

 

[Blowtus]

Does there need to be this trade-off? I think if you instead work with that which is workable, you can still acheive your goals with much less anxiety. In otherwords, what does anxiety add to the whole process? and does the end result justify needless worry?

Our anxiety really stems from not knowing, and the present anticipation and desire to know and to move ahead with future knowledge, which is precicely impatience. So, the deeper you move into the probabilistic future, (1) the more uncertain your knowledge becomes (2) the more probability there is to consider, and of course all the anxiety that naturally follows.

Why does the anxiety naturally follow? I make decisions because of long term possibilities and feel no sense of anxiety from considering the matter.

Can we not plan for the future but still accept and deal with whatever comes? Living 'in the now' but not ignoring 'the future'??

 

[Norsemaiden]

Why does the anxiety naturally follow? I make decisions because of long term possibilities and feel no sense of anxiety from considering the matter.

Can we not plan for the future but still accept and deal with whatever comes? Living 'in the now' but not ignoring 'the future'??

That would be best. Christ's, typically malignant, advice is that we must think not of tomorrow, what to eat, what to wear,etc. and be like the lillies of the fields that just exist without any such concerns.

Too many people, in their personal lives, always are thinking about some future event (not "lofty goals" but just the next challenge for them, or the next holiday or the next treat they are hoping to have, or some dream of winning the national lottery jackpot, etc). Sometimes this is escapism from a present that seems hopeless and depressing and sometimes it is some kind of impatience or feeling that the grass is always going to be greener a bit later on. Sometimes it is a method to avoid the things one could or should be doing in the present.

A good example of the latter is when a couple postpone starting a family, making excuses about not having a suitable home or money and so on. Like Old Scratch says - in this day and age there are so many systems of support and it has never been easier to have a large family without fear of maternal death or starvation. And yet, though things are easier than they have ever been in history, certain nations are not able to get enough women to reproduce to prevent their native people from going extinct within a century!

In conclusion - society most certainly should learn from the past and plan for the future - but the individual, in their personal life, should appreciate the present and not let life pass them by, but also let what they do in the present be helpful to the future of society. Don't leave things to governments.

 

[Nile577]

I mostly agree with the opening statement here.

On a general level, because we disclose existence as preceding cognition, we awaken into Being without having asked for it. Angst arises because of this startling phenomenon. Angst towards the future arises because we are forced to arrange our Being ultimately as Being-towards-death.

More specifically:

I think the future is that towards which consciousness flees. When one says to oneself 'I am sad,' the 'location' from which such an observation is made is quite troubling. The evaluator that comments ‘I am sad’ is consciousness. If it is able to analyse itself in such a way, it can be argued that consciousness itself is not really sad - 'I am able to say I am sad' -, but only recognises sadness through the link to a facticity of the thing (you/it) that feels sad.

Consciousness IS because it is linked to its own facticity (That is, how it exists in the past). However, we are still no closer to determining WHAT consciousness is in the present. 'Emotions' are disclosed in consciousness AS consciousness, which allows them to then be analysed by its self-reflective nature. It comments upon what it feels, with the feeling predating the comment. The internal comment, 'I am sad,' really means: 'I was sad in the past.'

Consciousness is able to project its own possibilities into the future, at which point it posits that it will exist as, for example, 'happy.' The 'I will be happy' of the future (e.g. 'when I meet my girlfriend tomorrow') allows for a reconciliation of the evaluatory part of consciousness with the other branch of its self-reflective stem. The future is that towards which consciousness flees for a grounding of Being. To use a rather banal example, anyone familiar with the Legacy of Kain game Blood Omen 2 will recall that, when Kain uses the long-jump skill, a shadowy projection of himself appears and can be guided towards the required destination of the jump. This is rather similar to how consciousness projects its own future, although instead of a single path many different outcomes are anticipated. This shadow-construction of reconciled consciousness haunts the horizon of Being.

A unified consciousness, then, is projected into the future. If consciousness discloses its future as 'bad,' angst arises. This does not mean that angst is objectively warranted. Consciousness is free to disclose the future as it wishes, and, because it is never its own past in the present, it is free to disclose its future states independently of that past. For instance, crippling guilt arising over remorse for having experienced certain deemed 'undesireable' feelings is a nonsense. Consciousness is never, for example, wholly ‘perverted' or ‘cruel’ or ‘spiteful’ in the present, (it simply evaluates its past facticity as being so) and so to brand consciousness holistically and eternally as such does violence to its existential freedom.

Where then does the future exist? In the nothingness of consciousness in the present, as the initial statement in this thread said. In the present, consciousness does not exist.* It IS nothing. Consciousness is that through which Nothingness comes into being. ‘I am sad’ is really ‘The NOTHING of my consciousness IS not sad.’ That consciousness is NOT 'X' invests meaning in X. First it assigns X specificity as against the wider universe, which it is not. Then the nature of consciousness' nothingness is changed by the thing it pays attention to. Consciousness is malleable nothingness and the seat through which Being acquires meaning.

*Interestingly, the gaze of another is able to fix consciousness in the present. Consciousness no longer flees towards its own projected ontological unification but towards the other by which it is itself disclosed. As Sartre notes: Imagine yourself down on your knees trying to glance through a keyhole at a conversation in a room. Now imagine steps approach behind you. The other is invested with the power to fix your consciousness. In this example, we might experience a rush of shame.

 

[Nile577]

*edited the above mess into something vaguely readable*

 

[NegativeVolume]

That would be best. Christ's, typically malignant, advice is that we must think not of tomorrow, what to eat, what to wear,etc. and be like the lillies of the fields that just exist without any such concerns.

Isn't this idea of being a lily more of a Buddhist type thought?

In conclusion - society most certainly should learn from the past and plan for the future - but the individual, in their personal life, should appreciate the present and not let life pass them by, but also let what they do in the present be helpful to the future of society. Don't leave things to governments.

I don't understand this conclusion of yours. I agree with the most of it, but that last line is all like I sort of agree with it, but what does a government have to do with anxiety? Just looking for a clarification

 

[Anvil]

I think the future is that towards which consciousness flees. When one says to oneself 'I am sad,' the 'location' from which such an observation is made is quite troubling. The evaluator that comments ‘I am sad’ is consciousness. If it is able to analyse itself in such a way, it can be argued that consciousness itself is not really sad - 'I am able to say I am sad' -, but only recognises sadness through the link to a facticity of the thing (you/it) that feels sad.

Great article here Nile.

I figure that when someone says, "I am sad," the conscious is looking at its mood of the past, however projecting a certain outcome for the present and the near future.

Have you ever said, "I am sad," only to debate with yourself to figure out exactly why you are sad? Then, coming to the conclusion that you have nothing to be sad about, or have forgotten the reason for your 'current' mood? It's because no one can predict the future. Not even your conscious.

Consciousness is that through which Nothingness comes into being.

Very true. Your conciousness is only the realization and analyzation of the future becoming the present, and then, the past. I think of it as driving a car. You can see a spot in the road ahead of you, but until your tires reach that point, it's still in the future. Once your tires hit the point, you feel whatever bumps are there. Your tires then move on, and don't feel the bumps, but you know they were there.

 

[Seditious]

Great article here Nile.
I figure that when someone says, "I am sad," the conscious is looking at its mood of the past, however projecting a certain outcome for the present and the near future.

I'm not sure what he was talking about was temporal. It sounds like what Eckhart Tolle states in helping people realize the thinking they've been caught up in is not who they are, you are 'watcher of your mind' he calls it.

"When you recognize there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you, and never stops speaking, you're awakening from your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking." . . . "To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions." - Eckhart Tolle

 

[OldScratch]

I'm not sure what he was talking about was temporal. It sounds like what Eckhart Tolle states in helping people realize the thinking they've been caught up in is not who they are, you are 'watcher of your mind' he calls it.

"When you recognize there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you, and never stops speaking, you're awakening from your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking." . . . "To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions." - Eckhart Tolle

That is a fascinating quote as it perfectly, almost eerily describes someone very close to me. She is, I believe held captive or "trapped in time" thus, and has been for quite a while. Where might I find more of this(short of hunting blindly around the net)?

 

[Seditious]

Where might I find more of this(short of hunting blindly around the net)?

both quotes are from either 'Stillness Speaks,' or 'The Power of NOW,' two of his popular books, the latter of which I read a couple years ago on holiday, then returned home to find I'd unknowingly begun downloading it in audiobook weeks prior, lol. (so if you have soulseek, or maybe it's on torrents too, you should be able to find those two, and he has many more books/seminar recordings on p2ps, and there are also quotes and longer excerpts on websites easy enough to find, but it is really the first half of The Power of NOW I think makes the best reading in this view of things, though he makes interesting points in 'Stillness Speaks' and 'Realization of Being' also.)