Does Tomorrow Exist?
A question for thought.
Is there a man, today, who is guaranteed to see tomorrow?
— The real multimillion-dollar question
I framed the subject of this newsletter as a question because I genuinely want your perspective and comment on this.
Yesterday at the book club while we reviewed The Greatest Salesman in The World, questions about tomorrow came up. A good friend of mine, Adebiyi asserted that tomorrow is a function of today and I disagreed, as I thought in mathematical terms, how tomorrow can't be a function of today.
However, after further introspection and querying of mathematics, I realized that even I was wrong, as, if any of those two subjects are a function of one another, then tomorrow is indeed f(today), as what is in the bracket needs to have existed for the derivative to be derived.
I thought; Tomorrow = f(today)
Instead of; f(today) = Tomorrow.
While they mean the same thing, they can be interpreted in error, as I did yesterday. If this is the only argument, of whether one is a function of the other, then Adebiyi was correct, and I was wrong (on the strength of my mathematics — I recognize I still can be wrong about being wrong). Don’t lose me here now.
This isn't even the crux of the newsletter. There was a further argument that tomorrow does not exist. And yes, I was the one who made the argument, and while I still stand by that point, I am open to changing my mind in the face of a superior argument.
You see, I have always believed that tomorrow is such a strange idea, especially seeing what tiny little beings we are in the grand scheme of things, how we don't exactly have control of the next minute and are not granted the capacity to know with guarantee, what will happen in another hour from now.
Does tomorrow exist? I think saying yes or no depends on a lot of things as humans. It's even apt how that I wrote to you about this topic last week.
If you say yes, tomorrow does exist, I will ask, who does tomorrow exist for? You might say "Everyone who is in today, as today = f(tomorrow)," then I'll ask next, is there a possibility that some people who exist today won't exist tomorrow? I can already guess your answer. When you answer yes, then I'll ask, does tomorrow then exist for those who died? You'd say no, it does not, that it exists only for the ones who didn't pass away today.
Then I'll further ask, is there a man, today, who is guaranteed to see tomorrow? Is there a man today, who isn't at a risk of mortality? You'll probably pause here, recount all the events of the world, and how some people were in their rooms cooking and still died of a plane crash, how some people who have never touched electricity before still died of electrocution. Then you might reluctantly answer and say, "No, nobody is guaranteed of tomorrow."
So then, who does tomorrow exist for? The man who passes away today, or the one who isn't even guaranteed he will see tomorrow? This is why I argued for there being no tomorrow.
So what? If there's no tomorrow, what's stopping us from living anyhow, wreaking havoc, and doing anything we want to do regardless of how lawless it is? Isn't it irresponsible to not plan for the future since that's what will happen if you think there's no tomorrow?
Even though I hold that there is no tomorrow, if you ask everyone around me, they'd tell you I am probably the biggest planner they know. I have plans for the day, the week, the year! Still, I don’t think the next day, or even the next minute exists, and that's how I make sure to live every single day optimally — as if it were my last. It is really a nice balance of you living like there isn’t another minute and living like you will exist forever. You really can do both!
If today was your last day on earth, how would you live it? Just pause and picture today being your last day on earth (it is pride for you to think it couldn't be, for what are you if not a flower that blooms today and tomorrow is gone?). How would you live it?
Mindfully, with compassion, peacefully, treating every single minute like it was a prized possession, trying your best to make your life count for something on earth before it is gone. And I believe this is how we should live. That is how I try to live, so there will be zero regrets if truly, today was my last day — it really could be. And if it is not, and I live to see tomorrow, "I shall fall to my knees and give thanks."1
The irony of it is that, if eventually I open my eyes the next day, that day in itself would be called "Today." Which further begs the early mathematical dilemma. Is tomorrow really a function of today?
Does tomorrow even exist? Would you live better today knowing tomorrow exists? I'd like to hear from you. Please write back.
To our growth,
Abiola Okunsanya,
Handzinspired. ✨
The Greatest Salesman in the World
Thank you, sir, for sharing such an insightful post!!! 👏🏾
It is a mystery considering if tomorrow exists or not.
According to the calendar, we have days outlined for us ahead of the current date; weeks, months, and even years have been outlined for us to plan our events accordingly, and that was based on the theory that tomorrow exists.
We might not be in those days at the moment, but surely those days will eventually come to reality.
I believe that tomorrow does exist, for it is the law of infinity in the universe.
The dead might not experience tomorrow, but we the living sure will, so while we are alive, why should we doubt that tomorrow exists?
Hmmmmm
This is a deep one. Thank you for writing this.