by Francis Jock

Created on: February 14, 2009   Last Updated: May 03, 2012

Listen closely and you will hear the passage of time. It may be the tick of a clock, the buzz of a passing airplane, or even a song bird's call. These small sounds and countless of other signals mark the inexorable movement of time as it gently, or sometimes violently, "slips into the future", as the lyrics to "Fly Like and Eagle" go. Our lives are a cascade of moments slipping forward toward tomorrow. And tomorrow looms progressively larger in our consciousness, as night gives way to dawn.

What of tomorrow? Or, more explicitly, what is tomorrow? Much like a check in the mail, or perhaps a bill, it never arrives, yet it is always there, just out of reach and not quite visible to our peering eyes. We are aware of its impending arrival, having divided it into neat blocks of years, months and days, and yet it's not there when we arrive. Like our dreams, tomorrow always slips away when we think we understand, only to awaken to the reality of another moment in time.

For the most part, scientist and philosopher alike consider the present to consist of only three seconds of time. Three seconds that cascade into our conscious and form an image and a memory of past, future and present. Certainly a moment past is remembered, followed by the moments present and future. Like a high speed train, they hurl towards and then past us, leaving us with the sensation of being: I Think, therefore I Am. We live in these moments of infinitesimal segments of passing, cascading, precious time.

Where does tomorrow fit in, why is tomorrow so important that we need to spend a moment contemplating, anticipating or fearing its arrival. Tomorrow is one of those box cars coming our way, not yet close enough to see, but you know it's coming. In the meantime, before tomorrow arrives and then hurls by at blinding speed, you live. More important than just living, however, you exist as the highest form of energy in the universe.

We are spiritual beings, the pinnacle of creation 40 billion years after the Big Bang that spawned our mysterious and perhaps unknowable universe. We are the ultimate embodiment of nature's power and beauty, by evolutionary selection or divine intention. We possess the most powerful form of energy that exists: the ability to think. We are beings that are both gifted and cursed, and we have survived by living moment after moment, for billions of tomorrows become yesterdays. So what of tomorrow?

Tomorrow is both a feeling and a puzzle. We are aware of tomorrow, feeling this way or that about it. We are, or should be always be, uncertain about tomorrow. Tomorrow's outcome may twist and turn away from us in unexpected, horrible and unimagined ways. Or, it be blessed with joy and opportunity, brighter and happier promises for the future. "The future is uncertain and the end is always near", said Jim Morrison. So what of tomorrow?

Learn more about this author, Francis Jock.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.