A welcome trend in behavioral science.
Katherine Ellison, “What connecting to your future self can mean to your present,” The Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2025
Ellison reports on the latest hot topic in behavioral science, “self-continuity.” The idea is to connect your image of yourself from the past with your image in the present and your future self-image. This focus has undoubtedly arisen in response to the growing blight of presentism that has settled on our society—people living only for the moment, without regard for anything other than personal gratification or survival.
Reviewing our past against who we are in the present can provide explanations and anchors for thinking about who we would like to be in the days to come. Connecting with our past selves, the research suggests, can bolster mental health—we understand better who we are and why. But connecting with our future selves, the person we would like to be in the future, “can sway choices with long-term impact on our future welfare, from watching our diets to saving for retirement.”
Beyond this, those who are oriented toward the future tend to be healthier, to take more responsibility, and have “a more holistic, connected worldview.”
Presentism is subverting social bonds and individual psyches, robbing us of our full potential to be socially accepting, mutually edifying, and able to identify areas where our ultimate interests and desires might overlap. An orientation toward the future can also make people “more likely to behave ethically”—although that term is not defined.
Ellison continues, “A stronger connection with one’s future self may also push people toward environmentally responsible be behavior.” We care more about the creation when we’re thinking ahead better.
The article first appeared in Knowable Magazine, so I don’t know if the writer provides more details about how to help people become more “self-continuous” and to focus on their future selves.
But the idea is Biblical and thus indicates again the effect of God’s common grace within a discipline and culture that largely ignore or deny Him. As believers we must never forget who we are and what God has done for us. And we must focus on Christ, so that we might grow more like Him in every present moment of our lives.
This focus on self-continuity offers opportunities for believers to proffer a new vision of what life in the future can be when Jesus Christ is our objective, His Kingdom is our continuous environment, and His Word is our unfailing guide.
