6
Understanding The Dollar Crisis
take. When you decided to come to this lecture, you rejected the possibility of being in other places at this time. All of our actions imply a choice. We always take that action which we think is going to give us the greatest satisfaction. All action also implies change. It implies that the future can be changed. What we are constantly trying to do is to exchange something we have for something we prefer. We seek to change the future to the way we would prefer it to be. All human life is an attempt to change the future. Some people sometimes say that they would like to know the future. For example, they would like to know what the prices are going to be in the stock market next week. Actually, we do not want to know the future. If you, or I, or anyone could know the future, this would mean it was set and we could no longer act to change it. All human activity is an attempt to change the future. We have a wide choice of actions that permit us to change the future. If we select the right actions for our purpose, we will produce the future conditions we desire. All human action also implies imperfection. If we had perfection, there would be no reason to act — no reason to change the future. This means that if we had everything we wanted, there would be no reason to live. When the day comes that you have everything you want, let me know. I shall make arrangements to come to your funeral, because you will then be dead. So do not ever think that we can have perfection, or that we can have everything we want. Life is a series of choices of actions trying to improve the future, and the future always needs improvement from our point of view. Life is never perfect, but it is subject to change, and it is our hope that our actions will produce changes for the better rather than for the worse. Human Actions Are Usually Unique Every human action also implies a self-selected purpose. Every time you act, you have a goal, an end, in mind. This is implied whenever you act. You have chosen a goal and you are acting in an attempt to attain that goal. Every human action is an attempt to exchange something we have for