“An Antidote to the Age of Anxiety: Alan Watts on Happiness and How to Live with Presence”
“The best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty, and to the best of our knowledge every one of us is going to suffer and die. If, then, we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end…
Since what we know of the future is made up of purely abstract and logical elements — inferences, guesses, deductions — it cannot be eaten, felt, smelled, seen, heard, or otherwise enjoyed. To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead.”
Mmmm. accidents will happen. We forget that when we convince ourselves that if we could just do X, Y, Z then the good things we want would happen.
Related: “Hey America, do accidents happen anymore? Especially when a kid is involved?”; “Fifteen Things for When the World is Shitty and Terrifying.”
