The Camel driver of deserts has consulted with many Seers. He always wanted to know about his future. Many of them had been right about what they said, while some had been wrong to predict his future.
Then, one day, the oldest Seer he had ever sought out had asked why the Camel driver was so interested in knowing his future ?
“Well… so I can do things”, Camel driver responded. “And so I can change those things that I don’t want to happen.”
“But then they wouldn’t be a part of your future”, the Seer said.
“Well, maybe I just want to know the future so I can prepare myself for what’s coming”.
“If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise”, said the Seer.
“If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur”.
“I want to know about the future because I’m a man”, the Camel driver said to Seer.
“And men always live their lives based on the future”.
The Seer gave him a piece of wise advice, “When people consult me, it’s not that I’m reading the future; I am just guessing at the future”. “Future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. My boy, the real Secret is hidden in your Present & not in your Future. If you pay attention to your present, you can improve your future.”
And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God has planned something better for you.
Nice story from Alchemist ! This reminds me of the beautiful statement said by Oogway to Kung-fu-Panda,
“Yesterday is a History, Tomorrow is a Mystery but Today is a Gift, and that is why it is called as a Present !”
Also HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW has to say something about the future in his poem “A Psalm Of Life” :
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!