The Expectation

There are several things that seem to be universal phenomenons: love, death, wealth, and quite simply life itself. Yet with all of these things, there seems to be a common trend among all of them; our expectations of them. The euphoria, mediocrity, or petrifying feelings that we expect also seem to be a phenomenon within themselves.
When we delve a little bit deeper, we must ask ourselves two questions:
i) "Why do I expect these things?"
ii) "Do my expectations depend on me, or vice versa?"
The second question may seem very obscure, as the natural thought we have is to ponder how we could possibly depend on expectation. This question has a rather simple answer, it could be theorized that an expectation is nothing more of an anticipatory thought, and since a rational being is a manifest of thought, we could possibly depend on expectation until we reach the climax of anticipating our last act on earth.

To return to the first question of why we expect, we must first realize that each psyche reacts and perceives differently, so we cannot definitively conclude on anything. But by looking at several cliche or extreme instances we can find a certain trend that we can pertain to people. And yet, we have already stumbled on our first expectation of this question, and even furthermore: a piece of theory that could prove to be useful. It is evident that we go through life trying to observe and instinctively try to find answers, or the truth. Sadly though, many answers don't, or can't come to us as easily as we would hope, and since the mind is temporarily left unsatisfied by not knowing, we must look for at least an idea of what possibly the subject could be. Call it a hypothesis, or a simple stab at a question, but really its just an attempt to simplify or satisfy the mind. This is the true nature of an expectation. What separates the idea from an expectation though, is the level of persistence. Ideas change and evolve, but the change in expectation demonstrates the re-structuring of one's mindstate. So perhaps we not only create expectation to put our minds at ease, but also evolve and plot our path out, and in turn our future selves.
A probable second answer to why we expect, is because we have experienced. The experience of seeing, hearing, calculating or committing any action with a subject gives us a sensation or impression that satisfies our unease of the mind, as it replaces or affirms the expectation which we have had. Although we must consider that this is done simply to satisfy the mind, and not really understand the truth that every time we see, hear, etc. is different, and just as Nietzche said: "the truth is an arbitrary distraction from differences." We accept different things as the truth because we are bred to notice trends, and if we associate every individual event as unique, our mind will never be satisfied as it will always trying to be comprehending the significance and details of the moment. If that is our mentality, we would be in a state of euphoric boredom, as we would not be able to appreciate when something truly unique occurs.

Do we depend on our expectations, or do they on us? Even still, it is almost impossible to fathom this concept that we can depend on something that we believe that we ourselves have created. Seemingly, there is no validity to the question, but there is much more depth, if we were to take a second glance we would find that there is much more depth to it than first thought, just like the classic expression of "expect the unexpected." If there was one thing that we expect most it would be life. Our existence is practically guaranteed, as there is no reason to expect it to end at any moment, when in fact there is no reason to expect the opposite. What's funny is that we think so highly and naively about something that is so fragile, that we want to take command of moments and 'live life to the fullest'. Why is it then, that we never ask the question of why we choose to do so? Is it because we expect the best result from that mentality? I believe a more appropriate question to ask would be one that questions what would happen if we chose to expect ourselves not to live at all. Could it be that this state of mind would end us? Scientifically of course not, but theoretically: of course. What I mean by this, is not that we would die, but we would re-define ourselves to look at the accident we call life completely differently. By rejecting the seemingly everlasting certainty we've carried with ourselves all of our lives, the creation of genuine care, as well as true character would be imminent. The genuine care would not come from a sense of paranoia, no. Paranoia arises from the thought of consequence, but what kind of paranoia could you possibly have if you have already removed the ultimate consequence from your expectations, from your existence. Character would develop as the concept of life would exist as a privilege, bringing out the qualities that one would want them to be remembered them by. If the person believes that they are doing everything rightfully, goodness would not only be inspired; goodness would become a self evident reality. This could be the case, just as long as human nature does not reveal itself and make people forget that this expectation even exists.

We can pick apart every single aspect of life (or period before death under the newfound acceptance) and find that there are so many variables that could change. Though the changes may not be revolutionary, they are changes nonetheless, and if they change us in the slightest that means that there exists a load of dependency, therefore that means that we do indeed depend on our expectations.

Expect nothing but the best from yourself.