Past Is a Big Lie
The past is a big lie because it exists only as mental reconstruction—only the eternal present moment is truly real, and the self we think we are is built on this false narrative.
[Reading from chat] The next question is ‘Father, may you speak about the past?’ Well in the past, I have spoken... [Ananta Sangha Smiles] Actually, ‘past’ is a big lie no? It’s just a made-up idea. You will only experience your past in the future. Check. You will only experience your past in the future. So is the past in the future or future in the past? I am just not playing with words. Right now you are empty of past and future [Clicking of figures] empty of past and future. Now we say ‘Okay, let me refer to this repository of experiences, presumably called the memory. But you will do it only in the future. And it will be fresh imagery that comes and there is no real way of verifying ‘did that actually happen.’ So you just experiencing it fresh and calling it past experience. Now the thing is that nobody has ever met this future also. So all that I spoke about was just a fantasy. So either neither is there a past nor is there is there a future. It’s just a wild fantasy, it's just crazy. [Smile] It’s just crazy stuff. There is no past, no future. Who can experience the past and show me? Like ‘I have never experienced a past.’ And we have an idea that I have.
Key Teachings
- The past exists only as memory and mental narrative—it has no actual reality in the present moment
- Our sense of self is constructed from remembered events, but this self is an illusion built on a lie
- Only the present moment is real; what we call the past is a story the mind creates to define identity
From: The Ultimate Truth Is So Simple - 3rd June 2019