You can’t foretell the future. You can’t think or feel forward. Living is unapologetically undetermined. The future is undiscoverable and brimming with glorious possibilities.
Yet, a small part of us remains restless and wants to have answers. We want certainty. We are willing to put in the work, but only if we can be guaranteed the results.
I have never made much time for fortune tellers, but I admit that as caricatures they do make amazing characters in novels. But my life is not a work of fiction. It is very real, and so I place my faith in the scientific method and apply science to support my faith.
I believe strongly in free will and reject any idea that my life is determined by the stars. God does not communicate with me by writing obscure messages in the heavens. The celestial bodies don’t determine my fate. He has not written anything on the palms of my hands, but they do share something marvellous.
The palms of my hands have meaningless lines. They have calluses, short nicks, and a few superficial scratches. The palms of my hands are sprinkled with sun kisses and if they could talk, they could tell a hell of a good story. But they can’t, so instead they show me where I’ve been. They don’t know anything about the future. They cannot divine where I should go.
Where I go is totally up to me.
The greatest human gift we’ve ever gotten was the gift of freedom and self determination.
You and I can decide which harbour we wish to sail for. You and I get to decide who we want to be, and what we want to do.
You and I are marvellous artists.
Co-creators.
We didn’t dream up or give birth to the canvas, the paints, or the brushes we’ve inherited, but we are in charge what we do with them. We are free to create a Birth of Venus or we can paint a fence. We can also sulk and not paint anything at all.
You are free to think that you have the wrong canvas, the wrong paints, and a very brittle brush. You are free to believe you don’t have enough experience, or that you have nothing important to share.
No matter what you believe, your future does not lie in the stars, but in your freedom to choose.
And if you choose to travel to a distant harbour, you don’t have to journey alone. There may be little use in fortune tellers, but there is plenty of wisdom in future tellers.
But what is the difference?
What is a future teller.
A future teller is someone who has been there before.
They are someone how has stood where you want to stand. Someone who has made the journey you wish to make. Someone who has paid the cost. Who has tried and failed. Tried and failed again. Who never gave up. Who triumphed.
The future teller is someone who is where you wish to be.
They are future tellers because they look back through a tangible past. Fortune tellers look to a non-existent future.
Looking back is better.
It’s rational. It’s real. It works.
Future tellers know what you want to know. They see what you want to see. You would be wise to listen and follow their advice. Wise not to take shortcuts. Wise to follow every minute detail. You would be wise to follow through the past instead of gambling your life on an unsubstantiated future.
Learn from someone who has been there what it will take. Learn about the mistakes they’ve made. Learn what was easy. Discover what was hard. Learn about the time and money that is involved. Learn about the ups. Learn about the downs, and all the many in-betweens.
Don’t trust your life to false mystics and dancing charlatans.
Don’t leave your dreams with fortune tellers.
Follow the future tellers instead.
Better yet, see who you can help and become a future teller yourself.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Wyron A via unsplash.com