>Schopenhauer tells us that: ‘Happiness lies always in the future, or else in the past, and the present may be compared to a small dark cloud driven by the wind over a sunny plain…. We can see it is bright everywhere else, but we are always under a dark cloud.’ (W2 573) It is harder to sustain a rosier view of the present than of the past or future: we look back on former events and realize we were happy without appreciating it; in the “present” we aspire to unparalleled fulfillment if only some set of events will come about somewhere ahead of the present cloud (and, hence, in the future).
>It is especially true concerning future happiness that we are prone to illusion: We believe that the future will be radically different from the present. In truth ‘the enchantment of distance shows us paradises that vanish like optical illusions.’ (W2, 573) In other words, when the “future” that we envision becomes “the present,” it is usually not an abode of satisfaction and bliss. Either it does not live up to our expectations, or it contains its own miseries such that it is not at all the abode of “joy” that we imagined.
Just enjoy your uni years you dumb dummie.
