The Historical Illusion

"Those that live in the past are doomed to repeat it". What does it mean to live in the past? What is the psychological impetuous for wanting to relive a memory? Is it to escape the newness of the moment? To avoid the unknown? The mind is seeking conformity in the reality of the moment. Conformity that is the psychological security of knowing. The known is the past, the memory of events that shape our response to the moment. Since the moment can never be the past our response is inadequate at best and is in actuality the response of a mind that is restricted by its particular beliefs. A mind that is controlled by the petty beliefs of the past is a small mind that is caught in the illusive interpretation of what has been. So one tries to emulate past experience, seeking its validation in the moment.

The ego/self is the past. A conglomeration of experiences and memorized teachings that have shaped the minds perceived image of self. It is the historical self illusion of what has been, projected into the moment. Most of us live out our lives in this haze of psychological illusion with only glimpses of true reality. A reality that we avoid, because we are seeking security in the known, in what has been. Such a mind references the historical to justify beliefs and suppress the truth of the moment. The historical leads one down the road of repetition, of past violence and conflict, or the confused conformity of "peaceful" solutions. But all historical projections are an attempt to avoid the perceived "chaos" of the unknown. The historical is prompted by fear of the unknown. All fear is the projected illusion of what might happen the impetuous for the avoidance of true reality.

In attempting to understand the human condition, we study the past, analyze it, and try to reach conclusions that seem to have validity in the moment. But the mind that is comparing and concluding is caught in the illusion of what has been. Memory conceptualizes the past and creates definition and meaning that is mixed with personal agendas, the goals of the self absorbed. This whole dynamic, is the psychological gamesmanship of a mind that is seeking to know through identification and attachment. It is the ego centric formulations of a self that is seeking justification for the known and its application in the moment. But in reality it is the repetitious non-sense of a self that is seeking validation for ones beliefs, a fantasy that is grounded in the illusion of the past. Historical fact is only fact or truth in the moment that it occurred. It has no relevancy in this moment except that it is simply the past, the memory of what has been. But it can never be again no matter what the circumstance. The life that we may give it is simply our own desire to escape the moment. It is important to allow the past to die so that one can move forward without the baggage of what has been. This is a new day a new moment that has in reality no connection to the past. This is really hard for most people to comprehend because they are conditioned to think in terms of the continuity of a connected existence. It is the minds conceptual fantasy of time as the movement of self. The absolute moment is the only true reality, all else is thoughts illusion of a self that knows.