Looking Backward

 If a person looks back and wonders what could have happened had they taken a different route or path in life, do they have a productive thought? I would have to doubt it. There are many "time travel" or parallel universe movies which attempt to show how a protagonist could relive their life had they taken some specific fork in the road. (I am thinking in particular about the movie "Peggy Sue Got Married", but "Back to the Future" also comes as a close second). I have to say, however, that these movies are based on a particular idea that life has specific paths that could be taken by a person. This is also epitomized in the poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Less Taken". Is this idea of life as a series of paths a valid one?

    I have reasons to suspect that this idea of "time as a road" has some potential defects. First of all, people often believe that "things could have been different" had they chosen a different field or path, but this does not necessarily mean that a person's character would be different on either path. Deep inside, regardless of one's chosen vocation, one may still encounter the same or similar difficulties based on the perceptions and karma that they bring to that specific path. Simply choosing one path, in other words, does not eradicate one's habits and character, so it's possible that the life of a person is not qualitatively different regardless of which of the two or more paths they take. 

    Second, and perhaps more verifiable, is the idea that a single decision often does not determine everything that happens thereafter. The road metaphor assumes two clearly laid out paths that are separated by a very large wedge or fork. In fact, paths are never this clearly laid out or straightforward. Even after a person chooses to embark on one path, they still have the ability to influence the direction of their life based on current choices and motivations. In fact, even being on a path does not determine how one travels that path or what they want to do or create while on it.

   Thirdly, even reflecting on a road not taken is actually reflecting from the present moment perspective. If one really wants to know why they didn't take the road that they did, they need only ask themselves, "what would I do now?" Often they will realize that there are complicated reasons why we do or don't do something. Many causes and conditions (to borrow from a Buddhist concept) could influence one's decision to embark on a project or refrain from doing so. There is not even any point in reflecting on what "could have been" if in fact one can take steps in the present moment to make their life closer to what they would like to do.

  For these reasons, I would be inclined to doubt the premise that time consists in discrete "forks" in the road, opting instead to think that there are possibilities, but everyone carries their own distinct karmic conditions with them, along with whatever choices they make. Perhaps this leads to the idea that rather than thinking of time as a road, it might be best to think of it as literally, "footprints in the snow". There is no road in the snow; there are only steps that we can use to create a temporary path.