It has been a while since I decided to write to you, but every attempt at it has ended up so uninspiring that I have eventually abandoned it. The half-finished letter, but not the idea itself. The idea of writing to myself ten years from now, that is. Which is why I call you “you” instead of “me.” Over such a long stretch of time, you are bound to be rather different than I am now. This I know by looking back, too. I am quite a different person now than I was ten years ago. Anyhow, I wonder whether I will succeed this time around, but I will keep trying until that happens. Fingers crossed.

I do not have much to tell you that you do not know already. Everything, or nearly everything, is on the World Wide Web. And this is how things will be until I become you, as it were. Similarly, there is little that I can ask you which will not be obvious to me by the time I get your reply. And I assume you will reply in roughly ten years. Just like I cannot imagine not responding to a kind letter like this one, I cannot imagine you being any different in this respect.

Now, the best I can do is to make a few guesses about you. To be sure, these guesses will have an effect on the events over the next ten years, but that effect could not be too great to threaten the whole exercise. Letters are only letters, after all. But you will be able to tell me in due time how good my guesses have turned out to be. From the bottom of your heart, too. Having said all this, I will start by guessing that you are in pretty good health for your age. By and by, you abandoned alcohol and tobacco. Surprisingly silly sins, these. On occasion you miss either or both, but not much. Similarly, you are doing your best to eat sensibly, which only helps you keep yourself in good shape. We are quite similar in this respect, but you are better at it than I presently am.

Next I guess that you do not have any great worries about your livelihood. You are far from well off, but you lack nothing you consider essential. There is a roof over your head, there is food and drink on your table, and you are neither freezing nor boiling. In addition, you have enough to keep your writing project alive. Once again, the two of us do not differ much when it comes to livelihood.

Moving onto more important things, I guess that you are at peace with yourself. Perhaps enlightenment still eludes you, but not by much. You are not pushing for it, either, for you know that this is useless in any case. This is reflected in your writings, as well. They are sparser and terser than mine, but more to the point. Although you write quite a bit less than I do at present, your writings hit the mark more often, which makes you ever so slightly aloof when it comes to writing. And that is exactly how you want things to remain, as well.

My final guess is that you look forward to your eventual death. When it comes, you will embrace it with all your heart. Suffering before death is another thing, it goes without saying, but a quiet death itself is a just reward for a life lived well. This is where I expect you are not very different than I am, except that you may be a bit calmer and steadier at your age. Age does bring some comforts, no doubt, and I look forward to them already.

All in all, I have a lot of trust in you, as is perfectly clear from all of the above. In fact, I would be rather surprised to hear from you one day that things had turned out very differently. By the way, I had no idea what I would write to you when I started. There is nothing premeditated in this letter. My four guesses came out of me without any effort on my part. They just rolled out. The same holds for the introduction and conclusion. Inspiring or not, this letter is now behind me, and I look forward to your reply in ten years’ time. Fingers crossed, once again.

Addendum (June 19, 2017)

Even though I am only half way to 2022 at this juncture, my four guesses are not as outlandish as they struck me when I penned them. To begin with, tobacco is behind me already, and I drink much less alcohol than five years ago. Also, I am eating quite sensibly by now. I am doing my best to keep myself in the best of shapes, as well. Next, I do not have any great worries about my livelihood. Britain’s secession from the European Union has taken a big bite out of my key pensions, but I am still doing rather well by Croatian standards. Most important, liberation is already behind me. As of early last year, I abandon all thought at will and for as long as I wish. And there is no better definition of liberation I can come up with. This is reflected in my writings, which have been shrinking the last few years. Last but not least, death has become a dear friend by now. Which is why I have also become calmer and steadier in the meanwhile. All in all, I feel confident that my four guesses will fit me like a glove in five years’ time. Alleluia!