Pencil: The Point/Future: The Optimists Shall Inherit the Earth

Book 6: The Internal Worship | Chapter 6.8 | 28 July 2021

"Once upon a time, there was a set of twins. One twin spent his days worrying about the state of the world. The other spent his days pursuing moments that made him happy. They both died in the end." – Janthopoyism Proverb

What separates the future from the past/present is that it does not exist, has never existed, and will never exist. The minute the future exists, it is no longer the future; it becomes the present, and the future extends eternally with or without your participation.

As discussed, Janthopoyism refuses to expend much energy doodling over the past due to its unchangeable nature. The past is utterly worthless to dwell upon and does not serve the forward motion of your True Path. But the future is the complete opposite. It is a blank slate of unlimited potential, still out of control but exciting and useable when it eventually slides into the present. And the actions you take now influence the architecture of a future better suited to you.

Precisely predicting the future is not something you should be too interested in because the thrill of life lies in the surprise. If you catch yourself repeatedly foreknowing the outcome of your days, that is a glaring indication that you are playing it too safe and not embracing the wild ride available. That said, changing the channel to visions of the future is one of the brain's most exhilarating features and can be utilised in various healthy ways.

But never forget that contemplations about the future are purely indulgences of the imagination, a dream-like space of non-existence. Therefore it makes no sense to struggle through negative emotions when projecting your mind into this vacant plane. Your mental self is creating it! It is a fabrication of reality that will never manifest exactly how you pictured. So why would anyone degrade their spirit by composing a fictional story solely intent on upsetting their Internal Energy? Surely that is a sign of madness?

As a result, there is no room for pessimism within the realm of Janthopoyism understandings. Optimism is an absolute requirement.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." – Helen Keller

Referring back to the power of training your Gatekeeper (see 3.4. Asserting Dominance Over Your Bridge of Receivings), our advice is to target the stuff you love. In doing so, your Reticular Activating System will notice more of it while gently turning off the things you dislike until your brain agrees to automatically ignore those vibrations. The same applies to the imagination. By consistently "predicting" a desirable event, your brain scans your environment for validation, linking to paths which reaffirm its cognitive bias, intentionally finding "the truth" of your design within an otherwise subjective reality. What you focus on is what you will evolve towards. If you want to go somewhere, you must face it. The vision comes first. You are in control.

If this proposition sounds like lying to oneself, we ask how one can be lying when referring to a future that does not yet exist? A positive prediction is not a lie. Maintaining hope for the best-case scenario is not a lie. Expressing confidence in your success is not a lie. Any rational person accepts that they cannot foretell what tomorrow holds, but the optimist chooses to enjoy the daydream of the most uplifting conclusion.

Let us assure you that every single mind runs this identical process at all moments. The pessimist functions in the same manner, except their mind aligns away from their Internal Universe. Thus, when everything goes wrong, their suspicions are confirmed without the slightest clue that it was their mind that sought out these adversarial effects in the first place.

Be additionally wary of those who call themselves "realists". Realists are usually pessimists wearing a thinly veiled disguise. A realist essentially claims themselves as a prophet, one who can deduce the exact outcome of any given matter based on previous data, selecting some vague middle ground that disregards the undeniable possibility of everything going perfectly right.

May we remind you that the future is pure fantasy? Treat it as such and envision something beautiful. If unpleasant results reach the optimist, how wonderful they still experienced that delicious moment of victory in their imagination! They conjure magical happenings in the mind's eye, and consequently, they train themselves to hunt for these joys in their immediate environment. Meanwhile, the realist plays some cautionary grey card, a blasphemous waste of their blessed cerebral capabilities. But worst of all is when events turn out ok for the pessimist, yet they've mentally endured the suffering of loss regardless. Ridiculous! And, what's more, by causing yourself to suffer, you have directly contributed to the world's suffering as a whole.

"I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." – Mark Twain

Realists and pessimists alike appear to have an irrational fear of disappointment. They often justify their sombre energy by claiming they did not want to get their hopes up. They seem unaware that a well-trained optimist never endures sustained disappointment, for truthfully, nothing ever really goes "wrong". Perhaps a development will arrive that is not quite the warm ray of sunshine they intended. But the optimist is quick to reframe it, conscious that everything is a tool that one can use to improve the future. Reframing is always the ultimate solution, as you utilise the momentum of what's already moving as a launching pad. Fighting anything with resistance is dangerous—just ask every martial artist or architect that ever lived.

You should never be afraid of what might occur. What might occur has not occurred and is, therefore, a delusion. These thoughts are the equivalent of your brain masturbating itself into a fit of terror. Of course Life will fall to ruins on occasion! The source code has preprogrammed the conflict to run as such! But while the pessimist is busy screaming, "I knew this would happen!", the optimist is already fixing it and will be the first to move forward.

Simply put, the more optimistic you are, the fewer things can go wrong because you are fluid, and you control the power of the narrative by forever envisioning a brighter path ahead. Some form of invincibility lies in this mindset.

Finally, here is the most potent Janthopoyism teaching we can offer on the current topic. We once again note the minimising gap between ancient spiritual philosophies, quantum sciences, and cognitive biases, gradually agreeing on an interpretive reality reflecting the perceiving mind. Hence, pessimism, realism, and optimism are all self-fulfilling prophecies. Whichever one you discipline your imagination to favour will be what your mind learns to recognise, and that's what you will ultimately summon before your eyes. So play your hand.

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