I find this most perplexing. How can memories of the past prepare us for the future when by their nature memories are of what is no longer? Yes, the memorable events of our pasts have shaped us into the persons we are becoming, and that is an odd relationship. We are always unfinished persons who seek an unknown future. Yet certain moments in our lives do have a lasting effect on the person we are in the present moment.
In this present moment, I stand still, more influenced by my past than by the unknown of what is yet to happen to me. This is fundamental to my human nature. I cannot live in the future, nor should I live in the past. Yet my past is the most memorable for me now.
And I think this past, present, and future aspect of the human condition influences one's belief system.
The Jewish faith is rooted in passing on the past, for the sake of some promised, unfinished future. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (past) has promised to his Chosen People (of all time) the messiah (future) to fulfill the Covenant. This covenant relationship was established in the past and is constantly referred to as a relationship established in the past. Do not Jews remain presently incomplete in their relationship with God because they hold onto a God of the past? Are not Jews defining their lives by remaining in the past, by holding onto an unfulfilled promise from the past?
And then Christianity, a faith rooted in Judaism, has inherented a past that is said to be fulfilled. The messiah is Jesus. God has fulfilled his promise. The Covenant is complete. The Kingdon of God is at hand. Yet, the final chapter of the story is still unfolding. And so even Christianity lives in the past because somehow that past reminds us that there is more to come. That more is rather a big deal, but nonetheless connected to the past. We have lasting memories of a future we have yet to encounter. Weird. We recall what was proclaimed to help us live in the present as a path to gain eternal life with God in Heaven.
So our lasting memories are to help us live for the future, not remain in what once was. This is a mystery, not something natural to human beings. So how is this possible to believe in someone who is outside of time yet we remain in time?
I have fond memories of my life as a younger person. I am always younger in the past and so is everyone else in these lasting memories. And often, too often perhaps, I think of myself not as the person I am becoming, but as the person I once was. And the same holds true for those closest to me. Those fond, lasting memories of people whom I'm closest too are too often the images I have of them. If I can only know my past self, then I can only know the past of others. That is if knowledge is restricted by memories.
I find myself caught up in the past, not seeing life today, and even more so not seeing life tomorrow. And does not my Christians faith call me to live for the future?
As a Christian, this living in the past is a constant reminder, especially every Sunday during Mass when we recall the stories from the Bible. We can talk about the theology of God making present today what He fulfilled in the past, but we hear of the past. Even in Holy Communion, my encounter with the Real Presence of Christ is fleeting in experience and lasting only in a memory of what has already happened. I know Christ from memory, of mine and of others. Can I truly encounter the Real Presence of Christ in the present moment?
Those lasting memories handed down through oral and written traditions form us now and keep us rooted in the past, even though our Christian faith says to live for the future. To experience Christ in the future is not possible for us. To experience Him in the present moment is at best a memory of what has just happened. So perhaps we can only know Christ of the past, just like we can only know ourselves and others, of the past.
The future of yet another promise still to come is unknown to us. The only knowledge we have of Heaven is what is revealed to us from people of the past, even if they send us messages from Heaven. Even saints can only be known to us and declared by the Church according to past deeds done after they have died. Again wierd. To experience Heaven in our present state is not possible. We get only a glimpse in the now, and that at best becomes a lasting memory.
So it seems to me that we can only know lasting memories. The challenge is living for an unknown future.
