The final concept in my series of 7 concepts that have helped to inspire me, is that there is no personal history. This is going to be hard to accept. I can almost promise that most people when they hear this concept, will have a visceral reaction. As humans we tend to cherish our memories. We love to reminisce. A great part of our ego and who we are is built upon a life story that we have created in our minds. This concept is not about that.
Memory of our lessons, experiences that built who we are, and memories of loved ones are important. Family history is also important. Knowing where we came from is vital to understand as well. Personal history is not about that, it is about something far more profound.
When I started college, I started reading books to try to figure out what ideas would shape me. I took recommendations. I wandered around a library and grabbed random things. I talked to people of various faiths. One day, a friend of mine and I came across the writings of Carlos Casteneda. While a student at UCLA in anthropology, Mr. Castaneda started documenting his experiences. These were under the tutelage of a larger then life Yaqui teacher he called Don Juan. These books came out in the 70s and had quite the impact. This was before the days where this type of writing was in vogue. A combination of a fascination with Native American culture and psychadelic drug culture. This helped spur the popularity and his writing feeds into that. I would not recommend the books today, but there was one thought from Don Juan that bothered me.
The thought was that you needed to erase personal past.
I struggled with this concept, fought it, and decided that I did not like Don Juan because of it. Over the years, that thought has always hovered with me for some reason. Then one day, a few years ago, the meaning behind the statement hit me hard. Every morning when you wake up, your personal past does not exist.
In fact, at any given moment, whatever you did before is gone. Forever. You will never recover it. Your personal past is in fact gone the moment you experience it. There is no time travel. No Dolorians are going to take you back in time to make corrections. Personal past is non-existent. So according to Don Juan, we should stop worshipping the past self.
The only self that matters is the one you have right now. The only change you can make to improve self, is what you are going to do now. Today. You can contemplate what could of, what should of all you want, but it will be to no avail. Personal past actually does not exist. So each day when you wake up, erase it.
This was such a powerful concept that you find it everywhere. You have to examine with care. Cultures will bury this idea within routines and practices. Very few will outright claim it in the way Don Juan did. This concept is part of the 365 Commitment formula. Every evening when you go to bed, look at the list you commited to get done that day. Determine how well you did, or did not do. Then when you are complete, pray. Pray to recommit yourself for the next day and then close the book. Close the day down. With some ceremony, end the day. This day is now gone forever and there is nothing you can do about it. No manner of hand wringing. No manner of worry. No length of time with regret is going to change this fact. Your past is now erased. Time to start again.
Begin each day with this mentality and you will drop that giant sack of rocks you are carrying around all day long. Life will be easier, smoother. Less worry and less consternation. You will put all that aside and focus on the commitment today. The now. That is all you have, because yesterday and tomorrow do not exist.
