Don't Look Back

One Life Tutorial for July 2022
Don’t Look to History to Solve What is Now


​When something difficult happens in your life, do you look backwards, trying to find the origination of the problem? That is what many do. It is very common to look for a past lifetime that will explain the karma of this lifetime, or look for the behavior in the past that can explain the experience that is now painful. However, looking to the past to solve something difficult in the present is not likely to yield any insight. Why? Because that strategy is contingent upon the belief that there is causality, and that direct and complete creation of an outcome is caused by an origin you can uncover. The belief is that if you find the origin, and eliminate its influence, you can thereby alter the outcome. However, any origin you find will be the result of your biased memory attempting to explain something that is ultimately unknowable. It will be speculation, and not the cause. There is no true knowing of anything except in the right-here-right-now present.

When a problem arises, it is necessary to look at the problem and allow the solution to unfold. This is different than being attached to making a difference and creating a resolution to the problem. When difficulty arises, non-action can often be the best choice. Staying present with what is can be the most meaningful way to navigate the storm, and letting go of trying to find an answer to “Why?” questions can bring the greatest peace. So non-action, presence, and letting go of an automatic reactive run to the past is going to serve you best when in the midst of a troubling situation.
Don’t get stuck in the common thinking that all you have to do is unravel the past, and hack away at the roots of the situation in order to solve your current dilemma. How many times have you said or heard said, “If only I would have taken that fork in the road 10 years ago, I would not be here” (substitute your own “if only”) The deeper truth is you ARE here and that is all that matters. How you got here is ultimately irrelevant.

There are many justifications of past choices. “I only avoided the fork in the road because it looked much more challenging than steering straight ahead.” Or “I didn’t think I had the power to choose the fork in the road.” Or “Someone was in my way and blocked me from taking any other next step.” You can see how all these excuses can actually distract you from what is happening now, and get you lost in the interpretive fiction of the past, rather than cultivating a full-on acceptance of what is now present.

What is Now Present is exactly what is supposed to be Now Present—it could be nothing other than Now Present. You cannot take what is Now Present and find its cause in order to alter what you believe is the direct and complete outcome of this cause. It might look like a good way to try to avoid a future you have judged as troublesome, but actually you are just creating more confusion and delusion. You can only live in the Now Present. Nothing else exists. You must be present with whatever you are now experiencing in order to live whatever the experience is. Let go of all the assumptions of causality and you bring your whole self to the Now Present. The all that you are will then have the perfect experience of All That Is. You will never have a definitive answer to “Why” questions. “If only” statements are in the end meaningless. Just be with What Is and Present Now, and all will be as it is. 

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