Do you get stuck between hope and fear while thinking about the future? The problem isn’t the future, but your intention. Most people look ahead just to remain who they are. The right approach is to use the future as a chance to change. When the goal is truly challenging, there’s no time left to worry or expect results—only to act fully.
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Questioner: Atish Sharma is asking, should we not have hope? Should we not think of the future?
And Kanika is saying the future is unimaginable. You talk about how the future is unprecedented, and so it is stupid to try to imagine and make plans. You have explained the subtle difference between making plans and getting attached to the plans, yet practically I find it impossible to differentiate between the two. When I work towards an objective, I find it very hard to not think of the results and dwell in the feeling of achievement, whereas not having an objective feels like the end of me, just as you say.
So then the question comes in bold: how can we work towards something without expectations? Even the causes that seem noble, such as bringing about some positive change in the world, bring expectations of recognition, fame, or personal contentment.
Acharya Prashant: Atish and Kanika, hope, future plans, and expectation from plans, all right. See, you will have to look towards the past and the future both. It is not only impractical to say that one need not think of the future; it is also not scriptural or spiritual. There is no way the scriptures forbid you from looking at the flow of time. What else is there to look at? The present cannot be really looked at; whatever you look at would belong to the domain of time. Therefore, looking at the past and future is inevitable.
