“A person who only laments the past is a coward, whereas a person who can change the future is a true hero.”
~ Jackie Chan in Dragon Blade
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Forward, forward, always forward. Life is funny. Even the Bhagavad Gita states that the course of action is unfathomable. Yet, so many attempt to fathom it before we move forward, and judge it looking backward. Actually, I do not believe life can ever be understood by looking backward, though 20/20 hindsight certainly has its advantages.
In The Golden Frog, the idea of memory was addressed. Memory is more about perspective than knowledge. This world is the world of perspective. That is why it is called relativity. Yet we cling to our perspectives as truth and look for the Truth in everything. As Dylan sings in the song “Love Minus Zero”:
“In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all”
Thank you. That sent my mind in many directions.
Love both quotes.
Poignant as I say goodbye or forward onward, to another feline companion today. Life must be lived forward…ever onward, isn’t that true. Onward with a heart overflowing with love, as loss is also love, the unfathomablility of love.
This was a very interesting blog. I particularly liked “Memory is more about perspective than knowledge.”
So beautiful! This so clear to me and yet is clarity simply my perspective on it? Well..part of me doesn’t care and yet it’s all that I care about.
Yes. Everything is a paradox. Thanks for all your lovely comments.
Finding the perspective before the memory, the unseeable, the unknowable.
The quotes are lovely but seems to be valid depending on situations. Jackie Chen’s quote particularly, “A person who only laments the past is a coward…” Lament has the feelings of regret, grief, or sorrow. Without acknowledging such feelings, would it be more in denial rather than a coward?
In some situations, to be able to truly move forward, a closure is necessary. It gives our hearts a chance to say goodbye and the power to move forward.
We do not look for perfection in the relative because it is not there. In the relative, truth is a function of the angle of perspective. For every valid perspective, there is a valid contradictory perspective. Paradox is the nature of the relative. There is truth in the quotes, but there is also a ‘valid’ contradictory perspective. We may reach for Truth that lies beyond perspective, but it can not be grasped. It transcends thought, emotion … perspective. Grasping to a chosen perspective as Truth is the way of the world. Yet as we evolve we live ever increasingly in harmony with that which lies beyond the graspable. Understanding this intellectually is one thing. Clinging to it as a perspective is another. yet is still just another perspective. However, living that way, what they call the way of the Tao, is quite another.. the culmination of evolution… the return Home to Oneness of all that is.. the resolution of all paradox.
The original blog as I understood it was about hindsight versus forward thinking.
I understood the earlier, related and complementary comment from Rayshan to be about the importance of sometimes honoring our feelings as we look back, as this can be necessary to move forward. I thought she was pointing out that feelings have a place and a value in our lives and relationships. I thought she raised the heart-centered point that a person may be wise, rather than a coward, for feeling their feelings in hindsight, or exploring them (lamenting). I took her comment as a down-to-earth observation that ignoring feelings is at times indeed denial, or cowardice in and of itself, rather than bravery or wisdom or being forward-looking.
I did not understand her point to be about the more abstract / cerebral / philosophical experiences of looking for perfection, experiencing (T)truth, or even understanding multiple, simultaneous, yet contradictory realities and perspectives.
But I will ask her. She could confirm or correct…
This blog came at a very wonderful time in my life. Through strange happenings my ex husband of 36 or so years contacted each other. I have been dealing with whst happened in the past,what was true what wasn’t. In the exploring if it mattered or didn’t. Such a relief knowing it did not matter. But it is where I am today. Thank you