Whether it be hope of an enduring democracy, a relationship we believed would last, or what we thought we should eat for lunch, all ideas are always only thoughts in our mind. The only real events that will or should ever occur, by any body, are those that physically do in real time. The only knowledge we can ever possess about the future is that which we discover after it has taken place. Because all actions are physical events, and we can’t know what they are until we see/hear of them happening, our ideas are always only hopes or predictions. The main reason our thoughts/ideas cannot know of the future is because those events have not yet occurred. No one can know what they will be; no one does know.
We get tricked by our seemingly knowing thoughts all the time. At least I do! Something seems really clear to us; there is no doubt in our mind it will pan out. And then it doesn’t: we didn’t do what we were sure we would do, or other people acted in ways we found shocking. This is a constant. Even when we land somewhere that appears mentally clear, or final, nothing can be absolutely clear or final. (People of course die; but how a passing may actually go or how we will feel is uncertain until it occurs.) Life is a continuous stream of physical action whether it be human bodily movement or other natural behavior. It is all of nature. Everything is of nature making it spontaneous momentary movement flowing outside any concrete predictive power. Anything that occurs by any body of matter is what is supposed to happen. Only our ideas, our assuming thoughts, are mistaken in their deep belief systems.
Jill Eng 