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Gheorghe-Ovidiu Stoica's avatar

"They take photos to create an account of their life"

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They take photos because they anticipate (correctly since it is felt as a great moment) that time will come when they will remember the moment. When that time comes having in hand a picture of the past moment will make the recollection even more vivid, detailed and pleasant.

The same goes with making-lists. We anticipate death, or at least the "it is now too late for it" moment. We anticipate that time will come when we will regret not having done this and that things and we act pre-emptively. We try to make sure that when that time comes it will find us with those things done (lived, achieved) and therefore we won't experience regrets.

That's how we are structurally. We always act (now) in reference to the future. We always make plans and we live no in the present moment but in our not-yet-present futures, in our dreams. The meaning of the present moment is what we think that it will later become present.

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