It so easy to be seduced by future promises of success, happiness and fulfilment. Have you noticed that even when you reach a certain goal or milestone ( a new job, new car, overseas holiday) the experience is not quite up to what you anticipated AND once it’s over there is a hollowness and then the seeking of the next Big Thing? That’s often my experience. Seems like I am finally learning and understanding that the future promised land, the grand prize is nothing more than a mirage. The oasis, water and palm trees look sooooo inviting form far off. They become all I can think about an the quicker I can get there the better. Once there though, the image vanishes and I see that the sand here is the same as the sand that I ‘left behind’. The hoped for reward was an illusion.
The alternative is beautifully explained by Ram Dass from his book Be Here Now…