#415 Can You Predict the Future?

     The logical answer of course is no. And yet, don't we all act as though we could?
     We briefly catch sight of someone, and immediately categorize them in all sorts of ways (education, socio-economic status, morals, IQ, etc etc) - is that not predicting the future based on minimal data? Prejudice, stereotyping, racial profiling ...
     Someone starts saying something, and we immediately know the rest of the story. Our listening shuts down, and our own self-talk takes over, as if we had a more concisely packaged version of what's being said (but are now failing to hear). Is this not also predicting the future based on minimal data? Premature closure, narrative (vs experiential) focus of attention, jumping to conclusions ...
     But perhaps the most limiting, most damagingly handicapping of all our pseudo-clairvoyant misadventures is our total and utter ineptitude at predicting our own potential as human beings.
     Three concepts should be considered: levels of consciousness, iterative learning, and experiential learning.  
     Einstein said “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.” Looking at it another way, your 6-year old self joyfully beating your mother's cooking pot with a wooden spoon could not possibly understand, and thus could not possibly predict, the sublime pleasure you now (perhaps) derive from listening to classical music.
     There were many steps between your 2-year-old and current musical sensibilities. At each step, you changed as a person (levels of consciousness & changing brain anatomy & physiology), and with these changes, your perceptions kept changing stepwise - iterative learning. 
     Experiential learning is another way of looking at levels of consciousness and iterative learning. One can read forever about a lived (mind-body) experience eg climbing Everest, yet remain quite naive about it. A classic example is the qualitative difference between reading about meditation versus practicing it - there's really no comparison. See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/06/intellectual-glass-ceiling-it-most.html
     Practicing mindfulness meditation, one learns that one's consciousness continuously evolves, and as it does, one is constantly surprised by how one's life improves. One cannot predict how it will improve, nor even adequately describe the improvements, particularly to non-meditators, for the reasons above.
     But it's important to understand that we all can evolve our own consciousness via meditation practice, cannot predict what it's going to be like, and others cannot give us a detailed description of what we'll experience. It's best to keep letting go of old ideas - they distort the absolutely unique present moment. Why not experience each moment's fresh surprises?

Exchanging Atoms Timelessly