The future is in the future not the past – Wisdom on Wisdom 3

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
you can live in the past but there is no future there kalman pakus some people specialise in living in the past they are always talking about the good old times when we were young, life was so simple things were like this, things were like that and they are always comparing the past with the present and they are deriding the present regretting the loss of the sweet old past yes, in some ways the past may have been better than the present, in some ways the present may be better than the past the point is we can go into an objective analysis and weigh the past and the present and try to find out which was better that can be done but the important thing is that we cannot turn back the clock that the clock always moves forward, the arrow of time always moves ahead and we cannot recreate the past the world is rushing forward ahead and is always going to move forward so when that is the past cannot be recreated then living in nostalgia of that past can often be simply a waste of time of course, it is important that we don’t lose our connection with the past, the memories of the past can be our sustenance can be our guide, they can be our parameter by which we can move forward in our life but still we cannot live in the past so there is no future in the past that means that when we even if we want to learn from the past and even if we want to recreate even if we want to adopt some of the things from the past for our future the future doesn’t lie in the past, the future lies in the future that means we will not be able to recreate what was in the past directly into the future we will have to adapt and so living nostalgically is of no use learning from the past is of great use but learning from the past in order to recreate the past is also not of any use we need to learn from the past so that we can actually live we can take the best of the past and apply it implement it in the future now this is especially true for spiritual traditions which base themselves on wisdom derived from the past the wisdom derived from the past which has been revealed in wisdom texts and those wisdom texts are often neglected in today’s world and those wisdom texts can be a source of great wisdom and guidance today at the same time those wisdom texts were spoken and lived in a particular culture and that culture is no longer existing today so with that culture no longer existing it is not practical in today’s world to recreate the culture so when we can’t recreate that culture what we need to do is adapt and that’s why every tradition especially the tradition that is based on ancient wisdom texts that has to have this dynamic balance between fidelity and flexibility fidelity is the connection with the past fidelity is what enables us to stay rooted in our past but flexibility is what enables us to live in the present so we draw from the past live in the present and create the future and this balance which we need to achieve we need to acknowledge the contemporary world we need to acknowledge the reality of what life is in the contemporary world without acknowledging that we will simply be living in an ivory tower not connected with the world and the spiritual wisdom of the past will remain irrelevant for the vast majority of the people if it is associated with or it is it is inextricably associated with the cultural packaging of the past and to the extent we recognize this dynamism to that extent we can actually benefit from the wisdom of the past in the present and mold a brighter future in fact the Bhagavad Gita itself demonstrates this in the Bhagavad Gita in the fourth chapter Krishna says that I gave this knowledge long ago to the sun god in 4.1 he says he says I gave this knowledge long ago to the sun god and he says now I am giving you this knowledge I am giving this knowledge to you once again so when he speaks this Krishna is not sticking to the same structure Krishna is not repeating the same words that he spoke to the sun god he is adapting that knowledge to the needs of Arjuna he takes into account Arjuna’s battlefield context and speaks that knowledge the Gita is not just a book it is a living body of knowledge and it is lived in the hearts of those who live the Gita and by living according to the Gita we can move forward and take spiritual wisdom with us so our future is in the future and those who are connected with the past those who are connected with the present and those who are prepared for the future they can actually bring about the most substantial positive transformations in the world by taking the wisdom from the past and adapting it to create a brighter future by knowing that the future lies not in the past but in the future we can learn from the past and prepare for the future in the present thank you so I will summarize