If you go into the forest just now you’ll see how everything is connected.
You’ll see the trees shedding their leaves.
You’ll see fallen trees covered in moss.
And you’ll see all kinds of fungi pushing up from the forest floor.
Here’s one thought that occurred to me in the forest – where does the past go?
We often think of time as being like a river, the future rushing towards us as we stand in the present moment and watch it all flow by and into the past.
So, once it has passed, it’s gone. Right?
Except it often really doesn’t feel like that. So try this instead.
The past is always with us. The present grows from the undergrowth, from the forest floor, of the past. It’s always here. It’s what we are shaped by. (Well partly……we are also shaped by the present and even the future, but I’ll return to that another time)
We are changed because of this ever growing relationship between the present and the past. Can’t have the one without the other.
But here’s the other part which occurred to me. The past doesn’t stay the same. Just like this forest floor is changing minute by minute, so the past itself is changing, constantly being altered by the present.
So it doesn’t go somewhere. It’s always with us. And it’s always changing.
Beautiful.
A lovely train of thought that I enjoyed following. It’s like the past becomes the rich compost which nourishes our ‘now’………….
A really great view of the past and where it is now. Puts a lot of recent autumnal thoughts in a new perspective. I have always found Autumn my favourite time of year and never knew why. I like this new look. Thank you.
Does the past alter as our memories of it fluctuate? Can we consciously alter the past by choosing to take a different view of it?
well, Mary, I think it depends on whether or not you think the past is fixed once it’s not the present any more! I don’t see the past as some other country, some other place…..I don’t see it as an object sitting in a drawer, waiting for us to take it out and have a look at it from time to time. We use our imaginations to create the past. Every time we turn our attention to the past, we draw it into a relationship not just with the present (which is always new) but with the future, the possible, the virtual…..I don’t think it’s just a matter of taking a different view. I do think we create it anew…..constantly…..just the way we constantly create the present..
the past is gone .it changes when we wish it to.even the very moment I write or you read is gone.well the past is not there and the future has not yet happened.means…..it is all about present.