I feel that we spend too much time learning about the past and too little time reflecting either on the present or the future. I have come to feel that a good part of the past; perhaps too much, is already transmitted to us by our forebears. As we grow up we keep adding to this by uncovering more and more, with the apparent purpose of knowing more about the present. However, the problem is that by constantly referring to the past we bogged down in old ways of feeling and perceiving. The disadvantages of this approach become even clearer when you look at the actual result of such past- cantered thinking.
Isn’t it true that the bitterest conflicts around the world all seem to have deep-rooted histories? The media, the leaders and the patience. But this also requires that we forget old wrongs. Giving up bitterness is a difficult task since most of us continue to be mired in the past; it seems to be an essential trait of human nature.
Often the past seems like a series of pictures that stretch back with no end in sight. If for example, we take the Kashmir problem, its origin can be traced to the partition between India and Pakistan, to the independence movement, to India’s contact with the west, to medieval culture, till it begins to seem that the problem lies somewhere in the early A. Ds and B. Cs with the very origin and would have it. Similarly, the origin of the Palestinian problem seems to go back to the period when Moses led his people to the Promised Land. The trouble with these conflicts is that each problem in every backward step needs to be resolved. This is an impossible assignment for the best of leaders and international organizations.
I thus feel that as human beings we need to be trained to focus on the present and the future. This keeps us safe from many of our imaginary traumas and keeps others safe from our violent desire to correct a past mistake.
I feel that we spend too much time learning about the
past
and too
little
time reflecting either on the present or the future. I have
come
to feel that a
good
part of the
past
; perhaps too much, is already transmitted to us by our forebears. As we grow up we
keep
adding to this by uncovering more and more, with the apparent purpose of knowing more about the present.
However
, the
problem
is that by
constantly
referring to the
past
we bogged down in
old
ways of feeling and perceiving. The disadvantages of this approach become even clearer when you look at the actual result of such
past-
cantered thinking.
Isn’t it true that the bitterest conflicts around the world all
seem
to have deep-rooted histories? The media, the leaders and the patience.
But
this
also
requires that we forget
old
wrongs. Giving up bitterness is a difficult task since most of us continue to
be mired
in the
past
; it
seems
to be an essential trait of human nature.
Often
the
past
seems
like a series of pictures that stretch back with no
end
in sight. If
for example
, we take the Kashmir
problem
, its origin can
be traced
to the partition between India and Pakistan, to the independence movement, to India’s contact with the west, to medieval culture, till it
begins
to
seem
that the
problem
lies somewhere in the early A.
Ds
and B. Cs with the
very
origin and would have it.
Similarly
, the origin of the Palestinian
problem
seems
to go back to the period when Moses led his
people
to the Promised Land. The trouble with these conflicts is that each
problem
in every backward step needs to
be resolved
. This is an impossible assignment for the best of leaders and international organizations.
I
thus
feel that as human beings we need to
be trained
to focus on the present and the future. This
keeps
us safe from
many
of our imaginary traumas and
keeps
others safe from our violent desire to correct a
past
mistake.