My future is now

“After a certain age, there is no future.” Joseph Campbell

I’m forty-seven years old.  For the past couple of years, I’ve had acute realizations that I’m living my future.  The one I imagined when I was a child, the one I thought was so far away in my twenties and the one that in my thirties, was largely shaped and formed by turbulence and ensuing illness.

These acute realizations happen out of the blue.  I’ll be doing something, such as watching television or talking with my son and the feeling hits me.  I look around my home, taking note of the sentimental items I’ve kept over the years, the most special of which are displayed on the fireplace mantle or my desk.  I look at the pictures I’ve hung on my walls.  I look at my life and think to myself, This is it.  This is my future.

There is a sense of peace in this experience.  I like knowing that I’m here in the moment, instead of waiting to be somewhere else, in the future.  Then too, there is the realization that I didn’t prepare very well.  In fact, I may not have prepared at all.

“Every decision a young person makes is a commitment to a life course.  And if you made a bad decision of that angle by the time you get out there, you’re far off course.”  Joseph Campbell

I did get off course.  I made choices that landed me where I don’t think I would have chosen if someone had shown me a crystal ball.  A few people tried to show me, but my life was demanding.  I couldn’t get past the day, yet I still made it to the future, which is now.

“I’m not now participating in the achievement of life.  I have achieved it.”  Joseph Campbell.

I hope you enjoy this video.  The late Joseph Campbell was a great thinker who shared his knowledge and wisdom with joy and an obvious love of humanity.

Joseph Campbell Foundation

Video from YouTube, “Joseph Campbell–Myth as the Mirror for the Ego”

Thank you for visiting Dogkisses’s blog and feel free to leave a comment.

Related Articles

• More with Joseph Campbell (learningfromdogs.com)
• Joesph Campbell, first taste (learningfromdogs.com)
• Follow Your Bliss (karunamettacat.wordpress.com)