• Author: Unknown
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 6
• Page Number:
• Date: 4 11 1917
• Tags:
• advice

FORGETTING THE PAST To many who are trying to lead a better life and to profit by past mistakes, the most troublesome thing to overcome is to forget the unpleasant things of the past. The mind is allowed to brood over events that should be put aside for all time. To do so, some will say, is no easy matter, but it all depends on our determination, our power of will to overcome. There are two classes of people in this mundane whirl; one class that is always living in the past, recalling experiences of sorrows and troubles, and thinking them over again, and another class that is always living in the future, constantly anticipating things to come to pass. Now a normal mind usually dwells in the present, and, as Emerson says, "I am an endless experimenter, with no past at my back." If we could learn to follow out that precept, how much happier most of us would be, taking in all the new thoughts of any value, and accepting them with some degree of spontaneity for the good they may do. True wisdom is spontaneous, and not deliberate. It is from the intuition of man, and true intuition never fails. It knows at once, just as we know good from evil. We do not have to deliberate about it; we know at once. One thing is positive, and that is, we can never progress while entertaining thoughts of the past. We should not be afraid to outgrow old thoughts and ways of living. Let us take a new view of things and be courageous, dare to think on new subjects, and live in new ways that bid for harmony and peace of mind. The fault is largely with us if we fail to make a new start. We are so accustomed to see others who are existing as underlings, that it seems rather the normal condition of affairs. If someone rises a bit above the average they are often considered visionary, or a little peculiar, and sometimes their friends look askance, rather in doubt as to his mental equipoise. If he ventures to trust the elevating power within, of which he may become conscious, his intimates often become doubtful, and advise against an overconfidence in things spiritual. Though they may have thought them intelligent and reliable in other matters, they nearly doubt his normality if he asserts that happiness and health are to a considerable degree helped by a right attitude of mind. If he is firm in his belief, and departs from the old fallacies of thought, it will not be long before the doubters begin to see for themselves and become willing to fling the dead past behind and enter life anew. Just so long as we remain tied to the past we continue to be underlings. So let us take on the new life and be free.