Dead Yesterdays, Born Todays and Unborn Tomorrows

Human being is gifted with life and existence. To put in the words of Sartre, “Man is thrown in to the world and hence a free being in the world.” At every moment of life, human being is free to make his/her choices to live as an authentic being. It is the authenticity that makes the essence of human life. I define authenticity as living life to the full dying in Yesterday, living fully in Today unworrying about unborn Tomorrow. In other words, authenticity is authenticity of today. But, human life is lived in yesterday that is gone and worried about tomorrow that is yet to be burn, thus making the born today unauthentic. In the long run human being moves away from authenticity subconsciously.

Dead yesterdays are the days passed in life. They never come back and end possibilities. To put in the words of Martin Heidegger, “Death is not a transition from one mode of life to another but the end of all possibilities to human being.” The dead yesterday has no possibility to offer possibilities to human being. They are no longer alive. They make up history. But, human being , thinking of dead yesterday is devoid of living in the born today in its fullness. It is also true and certain that the yesterday that is dead becomes the reason for today to live life to the full in and through ordinary events of daily life.

Born today is present at hand. It offers itself and strives to make human being authentic. Heidegger’s Dasein gave me pure insight into the life of today. Dasein is a being of today. It is the happening, being-in-the-world and also being here and now. Existence of human being is defined by the possibilities or more clearly, the projects undertaken for fulfilling the essence of human being. Today is the fullness of life with both possibilities and actualities promised by Christ in the gospel of St John, “ I came to give life and life in fullness.” The human being must live today with the experience of yesterday with an imagination towards tomorrow. The born today sets us free from all the chains that tie human being.

 

Unborn tomorrow is yet to be born or rather today is yet to give birth to tomorrow. Therefore, there is no need of tension or worry as to what I will do next? It comes to us in time and not out of time and as such no use of worrying about them. Jesus’ analogy of rich fool who by his pride dreamt of future to live merrily and happily, was told, ‘you fool; you will die to night.’ They are undoubtedly full of possibilities but leave every human being in uncertainty. They are ambiguous.

In conclusion, human life is a transition from yesterday to today, from today to tomorrow. This transition shapes and moulds human life. No human being is human being without undergoing this transition, which is a road towards transformic authenticity.