8/8/2019 Looking Towards Past

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Looking towards past!

During the extremely suffocating dominance of religion, the Europeans looked towards

antiquity and rediscovered the long forgotten analytical way of discriminating the truthfrom falsehood. This jewel of human intellect had been shaped by Greek philosophers but

was buried deep under subsequent rise of religious bigotry. Fortunately the enlightenedMuslim scholars of early period had conserved and polished it before the advent of anti-reason tendencies among them too. The intellectual efforts met the same fate at the hands

of Muslim religious narrow-mindedness. The rediscovery of analytical method and

reliance upon reason by Europeans ushered in the new era of progress and prosperity not

only for them but the whole of mankind. Looking towards past opened the grand vista of  better future.

Other peoples of the world like Hindus, Jews and Muslims have also developed the desire

to search their remote “glorious” past; and what they find out? A keen urge to humiliate

others!

Past can never be relived. Arrow of time shoots only towards future. So why people turn

towards ancient times of history and idolize it? Is it the urge to escape from challenges of 

 present time? Or, is it and easy way to boost self-esteem without doing anythingthemselves? May be they want to utilize the force of hatred for awakening their sluggish

muscles.

Journey towards future is always hazardous. You walk in twilight and never know what

is waiting for you at the next step. Errors and mistakes are likely at every move. But thereis no possibility of success without moving ahead. Your present place is familiar and,

therefore, feels safer. The future may be promising, but it is unseen and, therefore, seems

unsafe.

Movement towards future needs mental and physical courage to face and overcomeobstacles that present them at every step. Past experiences count a lot and hence the

relevance of history. But no one can re-create a historical situation to live in. Challenges

of the present are novel and never seen before, they must be met creatively. You cannotshift your responsibility to sages of past. A past hero will never come to help you. And if 

ever he comes, he must be a new one, because situations are new and different.

Living in the past is as dangerous as day-dreaming for better future. Both of them make

you myopic of the present realities.

While idolizing the past we overlook the fact that most of the glories of past are result of tailoring it out by cutting away what was mean and negative in it. When we are in love

with anything or anyone, we tend to irrationally exaggerate what is good and forget what

is bad in it. If we happen, by magic, to revisit our cherished past it is certain that we willrefuse to recognize it. There were miseries of every kind which you will never like to

face. And, conversely, if your heroes of antiquity are given a chance to come, I am sure,

they will find the present time a much better to live.

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We live in a world where our responsibility of separating husk from grains never ceases.

 No matter how perfect a given direction is handed over to us, we have to remain vigilant.

We cannot apply it blindly. While digging out the rubble of history we have to be able todistinguish jewels from pebbles. We have to decide what is precious and relevant to our 

 present existence. Otherwise the burden of history will soon become unbearable. Perhaps

that is the reason we find the nations more full of life that have relatively shorter span of history to which they associate themselves. Many a times the nations with a very long

memory of ancient past have to dissociate from past in order to rejuvenate. This is called

“revolution” in modern terms and emergence of new religion in older times.

It is always difficult to detach ourselves from achievements of our ancestors, especially inthe field of art and wisdom. Many old creative sculpture, architecture, paintings, poetry,

texts and scriptures are so enchanting and captivating. So are the lives of great

individuals. They cast a spell on us. It seems that great men often discourage the progressof others through their greatness. Others can only imitate them. That’s why hero worship

is considered to be bad. We should keep their record only for appreciation. Such was the

attitude of the people of European renaissance. They discovered and appreciated the beauty of the statue of Venus but did not start worshipping it like Greeks and Romans.This approach facilitated the emergence of people even greater than antiquity.