Learning From Our Past

In his play The Tempest, William Shakespeare wrote, "What's past is prologue." Pondering that, I begin to wonder about the past.  And, as I sit here wondering how I came to be sitting here, wondering, I realize that all that has happened up until now has led me to just this moment.  Perhaps that is what Shakespeare was talking about.  Everything that had happened prior to that moment in the play was what led to that moment in the play.  In other words, now, this moment, is the result of all the events and  happenings up to this now.

Now is all we have.  We should know that by now.  The past is past, the future, a hope away.  But in the history of our lives there are lessons to be learned.  If we do not review our lives every so often, we may never really understand how our lives have unfolded up to this point.  And if we don't understand that, we will never know who we are or how we came to be where we are at this particular moment.

Learning from the past.  Short of living in the past, objectively studying it, can lead to a truly profound understanding of who we are and how we came to be the selves we are here and now.

These are just some thoughts on a quiet evening when I find myself thinking about life and love and the whole existential angst of it all.   I look back at the past and I learn much.  What, you may ask?  That every choice we make is important and has an effect on who we eventually become.  

If we do not learn from the past, the future, to which it is indeed prologue, may not be so bright.  Taking an honest look at our past, though, can not only explain our present, but it can help us choose a better tomorrow.