On Fear of the Future - Essay Example

?On Fear of the Future The future is inevitable. Other events could be foreseen and if these are undesirable, there are always ways for these to be averted or prevented. However, time in motion is definitely unstoppable. The problem here though is that with time come hundreds of possibilities, a great many of them are unforeseeable and even unthinkable. Because one could not see them coming, getting prepared, therefore, could be farthest from anyone’s mind. It is obvious though that there are individuals who try broaden their perspectives so much as to include anticipating every possibility in the near and distant future. But then, people would not consider this as the most normal attitude. In fact, the denigrating term ‘paranoid’ has often been applied to describe such individuals. Gripped in paranoia or not, the truth though is that people fear the future just as they fear the dark. This is because the future certainly has a darkness of its own. Even if people plan out in order to ensure that they gain success and happiness in the days or years to come, they are still not so sure about it. Therefore, they just do not seem to get contented with what they have done in preparation for the future. They continue to strive for means that would render them more capable for every possible challenge that the future brings. In Lauren Slater’s Dr. Daedalus, this point is well explained through the works and goals of Joe Rosen, a surgeon that dares to engage in plastic surgery not just for aesthetics but for new physical attributes to enhance the capabilities of man. Slater’s article apparently dwells on the positive effect of anticipating the future. However, fear of the future also has its negative implication. Obsessed with preparing for the future, man tends to reduce opportunities to be happy in the present. This is the argument raised by Adam Gopnik in his article Bumping into Mr. Ravioli. Both articles by Slater and Gopnik may not be entirely dwelling on the issue of the fear of the future but these can give valuable insights that point out how uncomfortable people can be with their visions of the future and how they try cope with it. People’s fear of the future is not without bases. First of all, even if the future does seem dark, there are reasons why people speculate. A number of times the speculations could be accurate, especially because of the well-developed characteristic of observing the way things and events evolve according to the law of motion. The sciences have also progressed greatly through the years, allowing people to grasp the possibilities based on current realities. In Dr. Daedalus, Slater discusses about the goal of Joe Rosen to develop wings for man. Slater obviously appreciates what Rosen is doing for people with deformities but even she could not help but take an ambiguous position regarding the aim of creating a winged man. Slater writes that Rosen’s “ideas of altering the human form are repugnant and delicious, and that’s a potent combination to unravel.” (321) Acknowledging the fact that man is perpetually in search of means to make life more convenient, Rosen sees the future in which the desire for easy travel is realized by having wings. This is indeed a wonderful prospect but the idea can also be absurd and even unacceptable if man also considers the body as sacred according to the tenets of his religion and traditions. Here lies one of the bases for being uncomfortable about the future; even as the future is inevitable, man simply cannot face it with an attitude devoid of concepts that are much linked to the past. In fact, people even find it difficult to face the present in a more liberating manner because of influence or ideas that have been embedded in the mind for centuries already. The state of being busy is the sum of past and current attitudes as Gopnik explains. Gopnik writes that “busyness is felt so intently here because we are both crowded and overloaded” and that “we exit the apartment into a still dense nineteenth-century grid of street corners and restaurants full of people, and come home to the late twentieth century grid of faxes and e-mails and overwhelming incompleteness.” (2006) Apparently, people would be better off had they first get over with attitudes of the past before taking on the challenges of the present. As regards the future, they could be more comfortable with it if they open their minds and free themselves from the self-limiting notions from the past and even the present. The path towards overcoming the discomfort of dealing with the future is not an impossible one. If people just take time to think about history, they would certainly find out that, despite the constraints of religious beliefs and other forms of traditions, man is inherently always in search of ways to improve his way of life. Rosen pointed out that “we have always altered ourselves for beauty or for power.” (Slater 324) People should just grasp this historical truth and they would be able to accept the fact that the prospects of the future that are were or are otherwise unthinkable in the past and present are inevitable. Because of this inevitability, there is no other recourse but to accept whatever it is that the future brings, including winged man. The future may indeed be dark but it is not because it really is but because people just tend to treat it this way. The more they base it on their understanding of how those in the past understand it, the more would they be unable to anticipate it better or to even dare the unforeseeable. To cope with the fear of the future, one must not rely solely on centuries-old dogmas but on the natural and historical truth that man can adjust. By doing so, people would have time to enjoy the present and not be too wary of the future. Gopnik writes that busyness is “not an end but a means; a way out onto the street… a declaration of potential independence.” (2006) What people are doing now are basically all in preparation of the future. Therefore, there is actually no basis to fear much about what is going to happen in the days or years to come. Of course, when people do nothing, fatalism would normally creep in. The unscientific becomes more overwhelming, prompting anxieties over the future which is deemed absolutely beyond one’s control. Works Cited Gopnik, Adam. “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli.” Littlesong, 21 July 2006. April 28, 2011. . Slater, Lauren. “Dr. Daedalus.” Harper’s Magazine, July 2001. New York, NY: Platinum Periodicals. Read More