Bedtime Stories Part 5: Tell Me My Future. NOW

Good evening, dear readers.

When’s the last time you read your horoscope?

Future is a mysterious land that everybody wants to have a peek in. There is even a business – the fortune tellers are expected to become quite busy as the end of the year approaches and everyone wants to get in line and see what the stars hold them for the future. But how can you do that?

First of all, there are two ways to know your future: one being when people invoke some spirits and ask for their guidance (which is very ill adviced as we all heard from our interviewee Chad) and the other being more simple fortune telling. A lot of fortune telling is associated with gypsies, but I would be lying if nobody else at least tried to find out their future.

When you say fortune-telling, some people see Tarot cards, others – an old lady with a crystal ball, some imagine some more bizarre stuff. For example, cutting up animals and trying to guess the future from their insides. Another way is listening into uncontrollable laughter or cat meowing and trying to find a pattern. And let’s not forget the great octopus Paul who was guessing who will win the football matches. There’s also parrot astrology where the future is determined by the cards the parrot chooses.

SO how did this all start? In the old days, when the Ancient civilizations were in prosper, fortune-telling was not only an art, but also a very respected profession. The people who could see the future were admired advisors for kings and generals from more than 5000 years ago. I can understand why they were so valued – every person who can tell you what to do in a difficult situation is worth gold. Especially, if it later becomes true. Of course, it was a dangerous profession as well: if the fortune-teller would accidentally tell what the person didn‘t want to hear, or worse, the foretold future would be different from the actual future, chances are that the fortune-teller would be found dead. Ok, not really found – he would have a proper execution with the whole town watching.

When Christianity got a huge move in Europe, it was considered as a sin as you shouldn’t know your future. That makes you easier to control. It was reborn in Renaissance and buried with the age of Reason in 17-18^th centuries. That was until the rise of commercialism and consumerism. Then people got more liberate and free and decided that they can not only control their future, but they want a glimpse in there as well. Because as it turns out, when you know the future then you have a better chance of changing it. It has grown into a very profitable business these days.

Why people are so interested in tomorrowland? Why is it so important for some people to know what exactly will happen? I mean come to think about it, the future will always be different than you imagined it. Chances are, it will be the more different, the more clear plan you have. That‘s how the world just wants to mess with you.

Or it can be, that by knowing your future you can make it happen by not wanting it to happen. It‘s pretty complicated stuff when you start messing with the unknown. Also, it‘s very unclear – if you use different tools to find out your future, you can be almost certain you will get different answers. If you get the same answer – congratulations, your path is laid down before you. But that doesn‘t happen very often.

People get into fortune-telling because they want to be prepared for the future. But here‘s the catch – what if by knowing some disaster and avoiding it, you will jump into a catastrophe? What then?

You might dream your future, but there‘s a catch here as well. Is the future presented in the pleasant dreams or in the nightmares? What if it‘s both?

It‘s said that you should live like today is the last day, but prepare for tomorrow none-the-less. This saying is a little weird and vague, but most vague and unclear sayings are true because they can be true in every situation. That’s why writing horoscopes is such an art – make it so vague that it would apply for a huge part of humanity.

It doesn’t matter if you believe in fortune-telling or not, the future will always be like a leaf on the river stream – even if you manage to see it from far away, it will come and become the past before you can say “Is that a leaf?”.

So try not to be worried about your future that much, my readers. Or worry immensely; it’s your life, after all. There is only one thing you can be sure about – future will become your past sooner than you can notice. But for now, sleep tight. If you can.