The past is not entirely past, but is still present and alive in us. Our personal ontogenesis mirrors the general phylogenesis; the past evolution of the species continues to determine the present evolution of the individual, for to some extent he repeats in his own body, his own mental development, the past history of all mankind. Our remotest ancestors continue to live in every one of the cells of our body. We call them our cells, but they are much more theirs: we carry their programming and they call the tune. The future is also alive in us, in a more subtle way, more difficult to understand but potentially more powerful even than the past. If we look back, revel exclusively in the glories of the past, we make it difficult for the future to manifest. However 'noble' the past seems to us, it should be sufficiently suspect for us to examine it soberly and carefully. If we look forward to a better and different tomorrow, not only do we give ourselves more strength to meet the present, but by lending it a mental form and vital force in our thought and in our longing we reinforce the future. By anticipating we put our personal weight in the balance on the side of that which is to come as opposed to that which is finished, and thus accelerate the coming and going. Anticipation is our most powerful weapon in the eternal battle of the future against the past, of the coming light against the darkness, the battle of life against death.Medhananda
