1) Everything in the past died yesterday; Everything in the future is born today.
I have not been able to find a single source for this quote, but it is a Chinese Proverb. It is not attributed to any particular school of thought, and appears to be shared amongst all of the predominate Chinese philosophies.
Personally I believe that this particular statement alludes to the Taoist and Zen concepts of the “Now” (in Japanese– Ima, 今); the only thing that exists is the moment, if anything can be said to exist, and that moment gives birth to the next and so on. Look at the Taijitu (the Yin/Yang) – it is a constantly shifting from yin to yang and back, but with no definite start and no end. As the present becomes the past, and the future becomes the present…
But this proverb does not mean that we should hold on to the Now because it has passed in to the “past’ smoothly and shouldn’t try to make it what it is not, that being the “present”. The future comes closer to the Now, and eventually cycles to the past – but neither the future nor the past is experiential. The only thing that exists is Ima, the Now.
The past holds everything for us, so we don’t have to carry the burdens of our failures, nor our successes, and in its death we can do nothing more than remember them. And in so doing we must not become attached to them lest they become baggage. Even success can hinder our development if someone cannot let it go.
Hold on to the past when there is no way to change it makes for a heavy anchor, and blinds us from seeing what the present – the moment we are in right now – has for us.
All potentials exist in the Now; it is whether you can see them for what they are. We, here in the Western world, are taught that we are the sum of our experiences and that our past is something that makes us who we are. I do not disagree with this in its entirety, but instead would offer that the past is the soil we grow from, or the nest we are hatched in; it is not the thing we are, and many people forget that… or others don’t let us forget. The past is portrayed as almost tangible, and exists.
The greatest moment you are experiencing is the one you’re experiencing now – for better or for worse. Should you mire that down with negative associations from past actions, the present is muddied and difficult to navigate, or better yet – you’re carrying the corpse of the past, so running may be difficult.
This does not advocate a “forgetting” of the past, or putting it in some metaphysical oubliette to languish and eventually vanish. Nor is it saying or implying that people are not responsible for their actions in the Now because the moments die and become a part of the past, which should be let go. Quite the contrary…
I believe that what this proverb is saying that all we have is the moment, the Now, because it will provide more soil for the future, so make it the best you can. As with all soil, it changes but does not define the tree, nor does the nest define the bird that eventually leaves it.
Make every moment count, to the best of your ability and don’t grasp on so tightly to things that are going to change. If you make every moment count, then you won’t have to hold onto the past and the perceived glories and victories – nor will you have to hope for a better future that may never come. The Now is all you have, and every moment leads seamlessly to the next… don’t carry the baggage of the last one to slow you down from the next.
