Future Thought

Future Thought

The future represents a category of thought paramount today. We live in the present, but our view of the future controls the present. Without an adequate view of the future the present spins out of control. Modern life is lived in light of what people believe the future will bring, for better or worse our expectations of future life determines the course of present events.  Anticipation concerning technological progress that will improve the human condition, say in terms of world peace, prosperity, eliminating hunger and disease or even rapid communications and transportation cause people to embrace technology more readily as a positive force. The idea of progress makes technological advance possible. It is doubtful that people will embrace innovation if it was not thought to bring some improvement to their lives and society as a whole. Likewise thoughts about a coming apocalypse created by technological advance, such an ecological meltdown or global war gives us pause to question the direction technology leads.  Society as a whole behaves much like an individual. The future operates as an organizing principle for daily life. We organize our day in terms of what future goals we wish to accomplish. Those goals provide meaning and direction for the course of the day. If one begins the day with no goals to accomplish he wanders aimlessly accomplishing nothing. So society organizes itself in light of collective goals of production, problem solving, survival, war or peace. In both cases future ends determines present means. This reveals the eschatological nature of our lives and society. Too often eschatology is relegated to an appendix of Christian theology not taken very seriously because of the sensationalism of many of its advocates. But a closer analysis of modern life and thought reveals a thoroughgoing eschatological perspective. The future as a category of thought was largely a creation of Christian eschatology that became secularized in the modern world when it transposed the idea of the coming of the kingdom of God into earthly technological society. In order to change the present we must adjust our view of the future we wish to create.