This exercise may seem silly at first, but go with it.
- Lift your hand in front of your face.
- Now wiggle your finger.
- Now, wiggle your finger tomorrow.
- Now, wiggle your finger yesterday.
- Did that make sense? Could you do it?
- Now, if I asked you to wiggle your finger tomorrow, and you remembered to, would you be wiggling it tomorrow, or now?
- Can we experience anything any time other than now?
- If not, what does that say about the past and the future?
Now let’s take this a major leap forwards. Let’s look now at the fear of death.
- Is death going to happen in the future, or now? (if now, better call an ambulance!!)
- Are we fearing our actual death, or an imaginary version of it happening in the future?
- If it is an image of the future, an imagining, does it bear any relationship to our actual experience?
- If it is just an image of the future, what then is the point in being scared of an idea?