Only two follies; fears and regrets

I think there are only two follies: fears about the future, and regrets about the past (whether these are regrets about what we did or did not do).

There is so much possibility in the present moment, and this present moment is so vast when one's consciousness is truly free of past and future.

The (spiritual) trick is to realize that this works like a vicious (or virtuous) cycle: the more one feels fear or regret, the less one is grounded in the present moment where true power lies. Therefore, the more likely one is to do things that will generate more regrets in the future.

By focusing, slowly at first, in the present moment and making decisions right here and right now, one can free oneself from past and future and "live happily ever after in the present moment."

Of course, this is easier said than done because we live in society where other people will constantly try to gain control of our minds through advertising, government propaganda, the news, even self-oriented parental influences and self-interested peer influences.

It would, in fact, be easier to "focus on the present moment" if one were to live alone on an island, protected from the attempts of other people to influence one's mind.

However, it is possible, through spiritual and psychological training, for one's mind to become impenetrable to others' influences and attempts at control.

Indeed, one can train oneself to become the spiritual equivalent of a Steven Seagal - that is, an 8th-Dad aikido master - who can gently subdue any incoming external disturbance and quiet it down into peaceful harmony.

Fears and regrets, in the end, are just disturbances that a spiritually trained person can, with relative ease, control by removing awareness from them.