The Legacy of Yesterday in Our Present Lives
The answer to your question involves considering that a person is not free from the influence of the past, even if it outwardly appears that they live solely in the present moment. In one of the reflections ( link txt) it is stated:"Often, when looking back, a person realizes that certain norms accepted in the family have long determined their life. Childhood is generally a very bright period because a child does not yet have heavy experiences and can dream and live in some dreams not yet tested by experience. They may get hurt somewhere, but the memories of childhood are so bright that the child freely dreams, lives, and plays."This indicates that the past, especially childhood experiences and the family norms adopted, exerts a profound influence on the formation of one’s personality and worldview. Thus, the assertion that a person lives their entire life without looking back turns out to be conditional: even if in the daily flow we are focused on the present, our perception of time is determined and structured by past experiences.Moreover, another excerpt from the reflections ( link txt) emphasizes that the past remains a living part of our consciousness:"Past – it is not past; this feeling has always stood before me more clearly than clear, and in early childhood even more convincingly than later. I perceived the viscous reality of the past and grew up with the feeling that I was, in fact, touching something that occurred many centuries ago and that my soul was entering into it."Here, it is underlined that even if we perceive life as a continuous movement from the past into the future, the experience of the past is constantly present in our consciousness and influences our perception of the present. Consequently, our perception of time is a complex interweaving of past and present, where every moment is inextricably connected to the experiences and memories that fill it.Thus, it can be said that a person does not live their whole life in complete oblivion of the past—it shapes their personality and determines the quality of their perception of time, making the present moment all the more valuable and meaningful.Supporting citation(s):"Often, when looking back, a person realizes that certain norms accepted in the family have long determined their life. Childhood is generally a very bright period because a child does not yet have heavy experiences and can dream and live in some dreams not yet tested by experience. They may get hurt somewhere, but the memories of childhood are so bright that the child freely dreams, lives, and plays." (source: link txt)"Past – it is not past; this feeling has always stood before me more clearly than clear, and in early childhood even more convincingly than later. I perceived the viscous reality of the past and grew up with the feeling that I was, in fact, touching something that occurred many centuries ago and that my soul was entering into it." (source: link txt)