Live As If
Pascal's Wager started all of this.
Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future.
Pragmatistics
Pascal's Wager, the philosophical argument by Blaise Pascal suggesting that it's safer to believe in God than not to. To those of you new to it, his reasoning goes like this: if God exists and you believe, you gain eternal happiness; if He doesn’t, you lose nothing significant. But if you don’t believe and He does exist, you risk eternal loss. So, even if the odds are unclear, believing is the better “bet” because the potential reward far outweighs the risk.
In a similar spirit, we can apply a kind of pragmatic wagering to decision-making across time. Understand, first and foremost, you aren’t a single fixed agent. Instead, you’re a sequence of selves iterated through time. You’re a community in and of yourself.
Each decision you make today is a bet placed on behalf of those future iterations. The odds may be uncertain, but the payoff structure is not: choices that compound, that open doors, that reduce risk or build capacity, tend to serve your later selves better. So even when outcomes aren't guaranteed, the smart move is to place bets that give your future selves the best possible hand.
With that in mind; Live as if.
Live as if your actions echo forward—because they do. Live as if your present self is in dialogue with all the versions of you yet to come. This is optimism, to be sure, but why would the strategy you implement for your life be anything but optimistic? Certainty is for the birds. Literally. The genesis to instinct is certainty.
Humans are an uncertain species. Unlike those birds.
You don’t need certainty to act wisely. It would be nice, but it isn’t necessary in every case. What you do need is alignment. In this case, alignment with the arc of who you're becoming. When the future is a distributed set of possibilities, the way forward isn’t to predict perfectly. You cannot. You can try, of which I would encourage you to try, but it is not possible. That’s okay. Within that set of possibilities lies a wide range of good through bad outcomes.
You are shooting for the good outcomes, but you will fail. You won’t only get good outcomes. Yet, don’t fret.
All you need to do is posture yourself so that, across that range, you land well more often than not. That’s the wager. That’s the play.
Live as if your heart were a map and your compass, flawed but faithful, still knew how to find north when it mattered. You will follow your heart and find yourself lost from time to time, but to cease doing so is accepting death. It may take some time for your body to follow your soul, but know it will come to be. Your heart will be broken, but you have a miraculous ability to heal.
Your decisions will lead, inevitably, to cross-paths with malevolence. But you must continue to walk them. Life is long, yet short. Wondrously expansive, yet infinitesimally small. And with those extremes that life undeniably is comes everything in between. There are so many moments and events in your life that you must, at some point, run across malevolence. It simply is.
Yet, take heart young one. You’ve likely already made the connection, but it bares ensuring you see it and understand.
With that guarantee, there is at least one other guarantee that must be present.
You will run across the miraculous, the wondrous, and the profound. So live as if you must keep going to do so. Live as if being stagnant will rob you of your chance to be a part of the miraculous, the wondrous, and the profound.
Because it will. You must move. You must continue.
Live as if the stories you tell yourself about who you are have the power to change who you become. Because they do. You must stop dragging yourself through the mud for things you would never begrudge a neighbor for.
Live as if you are your own neighbor. Deserving of the same patience, the same quiet grace you offer to the flawed and hurting souls beside you. Live as if your past is not a sentence, but a library. You may revisit the chapters, but you do not have to live there.
Live as if forgiveness isn’t only something you give out like bread to others but remember it’s something you must eat yourself, nourish yourself with, especially on the hungriest days. Live as if you’ve already paid your dues in shame and sleeplessness. Now it's time to make something from the ashes. Even if all you have is the will to sweep them into a small, sacred pile and breathe.
Live as if healing doesn’t need permission. It just needs your consent to begin. Live as if the voice inside you could be rewired with wonder. Softened by awe. Redirected by purpose.
Live as if self-compassion is survival, not indulgence. Grab that hand extended inward when the winds howl too loud for logic to speak.
Live as if your life is not your own, not entirely. It belongs also to the hands you hold, the strangers you pass, the children who see how you carry your sorrows. Your life has WEIGHT to it, child. You MEAN something. If not to yourself, to everyone around you. You are VITAL.
Live as if faith isn’t about answers but about the courage to keep asking questions, to act in the shadow of unknowing, to risk hope. Live as if failure is feedback and success a byproduct, not a destination. Live as if each day is a letter to someone you'll never meet but who, somehow, will inherit the legacy of your choices.
And above all—above EVERYTHING else here—live as if you are loved even when you don't feel it. Especially then.
Keep your faith and you will know.
Found value in these words? Want to dive deeper into the raw, unfiltered truths of life as seen through a father's eyes?
🌟 Join the "Dad Explains" family today! Don’t Forget to share!🌟
Subscribe for free to get full access to our heartfelt, gritty, and honest explorations of life's ups and downs. Every subscription, free or paid, is a cherished support in our journey. For those who choose to contribute, know that your paid subscriptions play a vital role in keeping the quality high, helping cover costs for essential tools like Adobe and other editing software.
But more than that, your support keeps the spirit of "Dad Explains" alive and thriving, ensuring that every story, every lesson, and every piece of dad wisdom reaches you in its most authentic and polished form.
Got questions or thoughts to share? Feel free to drop a comment below or send me an email at dad@dadexplains.life. Your insights, stories, and questions are what make this community a rich tapestry of shared experiences and wisdom. Let's keep the conversation going!
Subscribe today and be a part of a community where every voice matters, every story counts, and every fatherly piece of advice is a step towards understanding the complexities of life.
Got a question or message for "Hey Dad"? Submit it anonymously!
I understand the importance of privacy and want to make it easy for you to reach out. You can submit your questions or messages completely anonymously using this form. Just click the link below. I look forward to hearing from you!
Submit Your Anonymous Message Here
Belief in God comes naturally. My father, who served in the Navy in WWII once told me, "There are no atheists in the foxholes."
It's easier when you fully submit to God. You won't be sinless but you will sin less. Jesus is the only way to spend your afterlife with God. You get one life to be saved. It beats the alternative.