If we believe we can control and predict the future, we are setting ourselves up for suffering.

There are different ways of thinking of the future, some useful and some not so much.

Our usual understanding of the past and future are similar kinds of illusions, and both determine the way we see the present.

History does not repeat itself, but because of memory we delude ourselves and fail to perceive the uniqueness of each situation and every person we encounter.

Living fully in the present is the real goal of a spiritual practice. But is it possible? And even if it is possible, is it desirable?

The goals of a spiritual life can be attained if we generate confidence in the teachings, the teachers, and most importantly in ourselves.

The goal of the spiritual traditions of India is a matter not of remembering but of forgetting.

While remembering is often portrayed as a spiritual virtue, it also seems that memory creates the causes of suffering by giving us the illusion of a continuous self, creating negative habitual emotional responses, and providing conceptual categories that

Mindfulness is a technique for staying concentrated on the present, but it can also be just another way to be self-absorbed and alienated from others.

Memory (or “mindfulness”) is valued highly in the yogic, Hindu and Buddhist traditions.