Thich Nhat Hanh: "The Future is Contained in the Present"

The future is contained in the present. We can see that how we are and what we are and what we will be are the outcome of what we are and we are now...

To say whether we have a future or we don't have a future will not help. Either way it will not help.

To say there is a future may make people have false hope. It's not good. And if we say there is not future, then people will have more despair, and that's not good.

So I would be inclined to say that the future is in the present. Look and see for yourself. I would add that we should try to live happily in the present moment, and if there is real happiness then we will have a future.

People, in consuming a lot and trying to be rich, believe that they are happy, but we have to helpt them to see that their life may not be happy. We should try to help them find real happiness from looking at the blude sky—really looking—or looking at a child or a flower.

When people have a base of real happiness, they will abandon the other things that destroy. Maybe that's the most important thing to do now in order to have the future and the present. If we have the present then we have the future.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

(Image: NASA. This 1972 translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the southern hamisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Penninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is the Malagasy Republic. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast.)