"As man is a being very sparingly furnished with the power of prescience, he can provide for the future only by considering the past; and as futurity is all in which he has any real interest, he ought very diligently to use the only means by which he can be enabled to enjoy it, and frequently to revolve the experiments which he has hitherto made upon life, that he may gain wisdom from his mistakes and caution from his miscarriages."(Samuel Johnson, The Adventurer, No. 137, Tuesday, 26 February 1754, as found in the book: Samuel Johnson-Selected Writings, pg.200)
Is it true that "futurity is all in which he has any real interest". At first I thought not, because I believe that the present is all I can truly apply myself to in any practicality, but then I thought that perhaps "the present" is only the moment when the immediate future into which we are rushing becomes "present to us".
There seems to be a parallel here to reading out loud. I am giving voice to a word in the "present", but my attention is given primarily to the words I am about to enunciate in the immediate future. So in a sense, I read well, only when I have given proper attention to the future, and perhaps a well lived "present" is only a ramification of our looking into the future with perspicacity.
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