Learn From The Past to make a better future
Your Past Can Help Guide to make a successful future
‘Philosophy is perfectly right in saying that life must be understood backward. But then one forgets the other clause – that it must be lived forward.’ Soren Kierkegaard(1)
It is only as the years have flowed through my fingers, like sand, for decades at a time, that I have started to grasp the meaning of Kierkegaard’s words.
For there have been times in my life that I wished that at eighteen years of age I had been the possessor of the wisdom that I now possess. But life must be experienced, and we cannot place an older head on younger shoulders. For a wise head, in most cases, must learn through the development of experiential knowledge.
But there is a fast track that can be attained. And that is by positioning yourself in the company of wisdom – be it mentors both living and dead – and making certain that you listen, take notes and then take action.
Wisdom literature has been my companion now for many a year, and it is from there that I have learnt to understand backward while continuing to live forward.
As petrol is necessary for the vehicle, so too is wisdom for the human heart, body and soul. Without it you are an empty shell; void of the necessary substance required to carry you all the way to significance.
Be different to a lot of humanity who have gone before you – learn from the past so that you can construct the future.
The repetition of history does not have to be your path. You can break with the traditional flaws that have been the Achilles’ heel of previous generations, and can begin writing a whole new history that will benefit generations to come.
Draw a line in the sand and declare, once and for all, that ‘I’m done with regression. I’m through with digression. My life, from this day forward, is going to be a constant progression – a fulfilment of my destiny.’
Read: