I remember watching Bill Nye the Science Guy as a child. I don’t remember much of what I learned (although I remember loving the show.) There was one point, however, I do remember. Bill Nye was talking about the concept of time. He was trying, with typical style and energy, to communicate how every moment that passes is one you can’t get back. Like this one. And this one. And this one.
In fact, every moment that is in the past is one that we can’t relive or re-experience. We can only remember. This act of remembering is alternately painful and pleasurable, enjoyable and pedantic, worthwhile and unnecessary. I, for one, really like it. The fact of every moment’s inevitable passing importunes it with a special significance.
Learning, then, is when we start to apply our past experiences into our living of the present or imaginings of the future. That learning can occur in the classroom on a theoretical level or through firsthand exposure on a pragmatic level. We ought to remember in order to cherish the good, learn from the bad, and apply this gathered knowledge to our contemporary setting.
There is a balance here. Remembering from our experiences is good. Using them to unduly determine our future action is bad. If we refuse to experience new or unimagined things – if we close ourselves off to the fullness and vividness of life – then we are holding on to our past too hard. All the fear of change, I think, can be easily linked to a more innate fear of the unknown. We don’t like what we have not previously experienced.
But, how did we come to like anything without first experiencing it? It’s like when I was a little kid and refused to try things because I knew I wouldn’t like them in advance. At some point you have to step beyond what you know and remember into what you don’t know and can barely imagine. Looking forward in a temporal sense should necessarily imply an awareness and understanding of where you have been, but not a fixation on it. When we walk, we make sure to look in the right direction so as to not fall down. We ought to live in the same way.
In sum, your past is important, but it’s not the most important thing of your life. Learn from it, but don’t let it become the sole template and determinant of all your future actions. Some people have called this “letting go.” That’s only half right. You have to let go of older experiences so you can more fully grasp new ones. You have to keep the meaningful parts and leave the rest to gather dust. It’s hard, but to get stuck in the past is even worse.
As I was talking to my friend Jake about rock climbing sometime in these next few weeks, I was struck with an analogy of the appropriateness of when to let go and when to grasp tightly.
When rock climbing, you have to find a handhold, grip with all your might, and heave upward. At a certain point, however, the appropriateness of that handhold is lost when one needs to reach up higher and grab a new handhold.
Grab, pull, release, repeat. If you want to climb, you have to do it all.
I like your analogy with rock climbing…
The first thing I thought of in reading this post was a song my friends and I used to listen to in high school by Zero 7 which has a main line that says, “Don’t Be Afraid of Letting Go.” I’ve always thought of this to be letting go of inhibitions or letting go or certain things in reality but I never really considered the letting go to apply to past experiences.
I’m not really the type to dwell on the past, however, I’ve learned recently that there are some things with which I’ve grown to simply be comfortable, perhaps much like a child that does not want to try new foods. I like the foods I’ve been eating and while I’m curious about the other foods, I’m not truly ready to try them.
That said, I like what you’re saying but in some cases I find it very hard to follow through with this particular concept of letting go. I know I just need to return to my mentality of four years ago and remember it’s like jumping into the water from high above: it looks scary but once the first step is taken there is no turning back before the experience is over (and with jumping into water the experience tends to be exhilarating). I don’t want to write much more but I find it interesting that there is another perspective to be considered with this same thought: if there is no turning back once the first step is taken the first step needs to be one in the right direction, and if this is the case how do we discern what is right?
…With that ramble I have to say I loved Bill Nye the Science Guy – without him I would not be able to balance 2 forks on 2 toothpicks and a salt shaker.
Bill Nye was awesome. The show was crazy though, if you haven’t watched it since you were a kid then check out a clip on youtube. I’m pretty sure it gave kids ADD.
The balancing act that this concept presents gives us such an opportunity for growth. I think you’re right on Matt. This reminds me of an essay by Makoto Fujimura that I read. He talks about walking backward into the futre. Check it out here: http://makotofujimura.blogspot.com/search?q=walking+backwards By the way, Mako is amazing, I highly recommend his writings.