It has been said that the past is never past, which basically means that those that do not believe that the past has any relevance in the present time or in the future, do not properly grasp the importance of the past. The very purpose of the past is not only to learn from it but to recognize that what has happened in the past, is often cyclical in nature, for the very process of time as measured in this present age, clearly demonstrates to us, that time itself is cyclical, for the seasons of the year tell us that, as well as the fact that each day has the same 24 hours, day after day after day. Therefore, to believe, somehow, that we should always and forevermore conceptualize time as being linear is to misunderstand the full truth of time, which is better represented by the knowledge that what we see as time in this world, is for our learning experience, for in actuality time is an elaborate illusion.
Each of us should be grateful that we know of the past, and the more that we study the past so as to understand not only the errors of past times but also the insights of such, the better we are able then to properly see the past as a necessary stepping stone to get us to where we really need to go. This thus signifies that the past is structured as the past so that we will utilize this knowledge to help bring us ever closer to understanding and comprehending who and what we truly are. Those who are wise, recognize that the smoothest path to enlightenment is to stand upon the shoulders of those esteemed personages of the past, who were visionaries and innovative, as compared to desiring to start over, again and again. For those who do not desire to pay attention to the past, thereby represent the very same who will be susceptible to living the same errors of the past because they are apparently unwilling to learn the valuable lessons that will free them from the mistakes so made in those past times.
In order to break free from the endless cycle, of birth, life, and then death, we have got to acknowledge that this can only be accomplished by those who have taken the time to read the past, and have thus used that knowledge to thereby break free from the confines and limitations of misguided thoughts and beliefs, to accept that there is a better way, and those that pursue that way, diligently and unrelentingly, will surely find that previously undiscovered and hidden country.
The past is never past, because the skeins of time cannot be erased, and as much as we may well wish to ignore or to pretend that certain past events did not happen, they did happen. The point then is not to ignore the past, but rather to see the past as a necessary piece of the puzzle which, when fully put back together, will provide us with true freedom and endless liberty, in the sure knowledge that all that has so occurred, makes eminent sense and always has.