Respect for ones past helps ground the mind and ego in reality. Untold generations of human beings strived and struggled through life on this planet so that we may have an opportunity to live. Our amazing modern world with all of its comforts, recreation, & knowledge was handed to us by our ancestors. Us modern humans who are living in climate controlled homes with refrigeration & access to a world of information at our fingertips would do well to remember this. More importantly, we would do well to remember why our ancestors have left all of this wonder to us.
“For the Northman to be affected by this or that in what he meets depend on something that has happened, something past and something ahead. An event which has happened to himself or his ancestors and an event which must be brought to pass for the betterment of himself and his descendants. HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE MOMENT; HE USES THE MOMENT TO RECKON OUT: HOW CAN IT SERVE HIM TO THE ATTAINMENT OF HIS END...”
This quote is taken from the text 'The Culture of the Teutons' written during the beginning of the 1900's by a Doctor and Professor of Philosophy & Religion named Vilhelm Gronbech. While the book itself is focused on the cultural design & makeup of my own long-ago Ancestors from North & West Europe, it could apply just as equally to many other traditional cultures of Historic & Pre-Historic times.
Another great example from my own long ago ancestors is found in the Voluspa, stanza 20;
“From the Well of Origin came Maidens
much knowing
three from that hall
which stands beneath the Tree
Origin the first is called
the second is About to Happen
They carve Runes into the Tree
Debt is the third maiden
They make the laws
They shape the lives
For the Children of the Ages
They determine all Fate”
Here the concept of Past, Present, & Future are given the form of three mythic Women (Fates, Norns, etc.) who weave the fate of the living into a continuous and flowing tapestry of Life itself. The basic truth found in this poem is that past & future are connected to the present. Deeper truths from this poem reveal how the Future can be re-shaped by correcting the mistakes from the Past in one's Present. To the sleeping Consciousness, the three Norns rule life and how it is lived. To the awoken Consciousness, the three fates will show how the Present & Future can be healed through the Past. They will give options for one to choose his or her own fate as the Future unfolds.
There was a connection to our own past which has been lost in the chaos of the 20th century. There is a respect and obligation to the future that we have also lost. These two truths have resulted in the pollution of our planet that we all see and are ashamed of in the present. These truths are the reason nations allow themselves to go into unsustainable debt which generations of unborn humans will have to deal with in their lifetimes. These two truths are why we allow wars and destruction of our own history to continue. These two truths are why we allow our futures to be corrupted while we focus on the present and our own desires.
We who are now in the world of the living have been shaped by the past. Unfortunately, our actions are not made with conscious intention to their impact on the Future. This combination of not understanding where we have come from and not looking ahead to where our actions will lead future generations must be stopped.
I speak for myself now as much as for whoever else reads these words;
My past is my own, and mine to Own. The injury & insult I carry with me from my own history is something I alone can heal. So with love and respect to those who strived and struggled so that I may be, I will heal that in myself which is corrupted and impure.
Only a very small sliver of the future will belong to me. The rest is rightful property of my children and their progeny. Though it may be difficult, I will work to keep this idea in my conscious mind as I find my own Work to accomplish. Rather than let that which I will create be shaped by insecurity or greed, I will try to make it pure and lasting so that my descendants won't have to relive the same struggles that I face.
