Somewhere around the year 29 AD a teacher said to his students, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand". And those words amongst many others of his were recorded and passed on through to this day, first in Greek and later in most all other languages.
These words in particular seem almost like something the character Captain Obvious might say. Doesn't our understanding of things we see in a moment in time get better as we have time to think about it and combine it with other things that happened around that same time. including things that happened later? Isn't that obvious?
Well it should be but our own behavior tells us otherwise, starting with phrases many of us like to use. It's supposedly a good thing we say, to 'live in the present', 'in the now' and not be 'stuck on the past'. And yet it is the past we more fully understand and the present we can never fully understand as long as it remains just the present.
The present is the newest input that we have had and thus we have had the least time to process it, to analyze it, to judge it. It is there that we are most vulnerable to being tricked.
To live 'in the present' may be good advice to someone who is apt to worry too much about the future or allow bad past experiences to seep into and spoil the rest of their lives, but beyond those extreme cases it just doesn't seem like a good idea. But none the less we are so easily convinced that it is.
Take the phrase to be "on the right side of history". It is used to describe any idea that has become so commonly and strongly held about what represents social progress that it seems inevitable that anyone who questions the idea will find themselves an "outsider" of sorts in the area of human discourse.
Take the prohibition movement for example. It ended with the repeal of their amendment to the constitution. People commonly recall that it had become very unpopular but they seem to miss the implications of it actually being an amendment to be repealed in the first place. To become an amendment it had to be extremely popular at one time. Amendments don't generally get passed without both strong and prolonged support from majorities in most states across the nation.
Indeed it could have been said about the time of prohibition's consideration that anyone who opposed it was "on the wrong side of history". And yet with the actual history available to us we can see that wasn't so.
That's because it is foolish to suggest that the taking of any position in the present will place you on the wrong side of history. Not only is it impossible to tell where history is going but the present is least understood while it is still the present.
That teacher by the way is Jesus of Nazareth. You can find the quote in John 13:7. He really wasn't kidding when he said, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand". And even our own present is likely to be beyond our current understanding.
So take care.
These words in particular seem almost like something the character Captain Obvious might say. Doesn't our understanding of things we see in a moment in time get better as we have time to think about it and combine it with other things that happened around that same time. including things that happened later? Isn't that obvious?
Well it should be but our own behavior tells us otherwise, starting with phrases many of us like to use. It's supposedly a good thing we say, to 'live in the present', 'in the now' and not be 'stuck on the past'. And yet it is the past we more fully understand and the present we can never fully understand as long as it remains just the present.
The present is the newest input that we have had and thus we have had the least time to process it, to analyze it, to judge it. It is there that we are most vulnerable to being tricked.
To live 'in the present' may be good advice to someone who is apt to worry too much about the future or allow bad past experiences to seep into and spoil the rest of their lives, but beyond those extreme cases it just doesn't seem like a good idea. But none the less we are so easily convinced that it is.
Take the phrase to be "on the right side of history". It is used to describe any idea that has become so commonly and strongly held about what represents social progress that it seems inevitable that anyone who questions the idea will find themselves an "outsider" of sorts in the area of human discourse.
Take the prohibition movement for example. It ended with the repeal of their amendment to the constitution. People commonly recall that it had become very unpopular but they seem to miss the implications of it actually being an amendment to be repealed in the first place. To become an amendment it had to be extremely popular at one time. Amendments don't generally get passed without both strong and prolonged support from majorities in most states across the nation.
Indeed it could have been said about the time of prohibition's consideration that anyone who opposed it was "on the wrong side of history". And yet with the actual history available to us we can see that wasn't so.
That's because it is foolish to suggest that the taking of any position in the present will place you on the wrong side of history. Not only is it impossible to tell where history is going but the present is least understood while it is still the present.
That teacher by the way is Jesus of Nazareth. You can find the quote in John 13:7. He really wasn't kidding when he said, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand". And even our own present is likely to be beyond our current understanding.
So take care.
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