"The future is behind us", the vision of the Nasa Indians.
100mg modafinil п»їIn the West, a mental pattern has been imposed in which time is assumed to be linear. In this way, we have become accustomed to the idea that the past is behind us, the present in the point on which we step and the future in the lines that start towards the horizon. However, other cultures see it differently. The Nasa Indians, for example, have a phrase that may surprise us: "The future is behind us.
For a Westerner, this statement that "the future is behind us" is completely enigmatic, since it goes against the popular conception.
It must be said that the Nasa do not see time as a continuous line, but as a cyclical process, in which the past, the present and the future are realities that meet again and again.
In fact, Nasa not only says that "the future is behind us", but complements this statement with another one that may be equally enigmatic: "the past is ahead of us". What do they mean by this, and what can we learn from this conception of time? Let's see.
"The word without action is empty. Action without word is blind. Word and action outside the spirit of community is death."
-Nasa Pal ГЃlvaro Ulcue Chocue-.
"The women of the Nasa community, who live in some areas of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, are accustomed to wear a kind of mantilla and use it to carry their children on their backs. This gesture is not only a practical way to go everywhere with their children, while keeping their hands and arms free, but also has a symbolic meaning.
When these women are asked why they carry their children on their backs, they answer that "the future is behind them". That is to say that they carry their own future on their backs; their children, on the other hand, look backwards: where, according to their culture, the future is; they, on the other hand, look forward to gather the lessons of the past.
Why do the Nasa say that "the future is behind us"? This community believes that the future is the direct result of the past: its consequence. So it is not as random as we see it in the West, since simply by contemplating what happened and what was done, one can anticipate much of what will happen and be done.
"The past lies ahead "The statement that "The future lies behind" is complemented by the idea that "The past lies ahead." This means that, as some poets have said, the past is something that is always happening. In reality, we are basically our past, for that which we bring from yesterday is what becomes visible today and will continue to manifest tomorrow.
For the Nasa, individual destiny has little meaning. In their conception of the world, the collective occupies a central place. Therefore, when they speak of past and future, since the present seems to them almost non-existent, they do so from a communitarian perspective.
In this way, they see yesterday as a personal history, but also and mainly as a common history, of family and community.
They do not only take into account the immediate past, but they also deal with previous generations. In other words, unlike what happens in our societies, the Nasa have a markedly historical vision of their existence.
What can we learn from this perspective? If we stick to the facts, the Nasa's vision of time is much more in line with reality than the linear conception of time. In the West, the idea that the past is somehow disconnected from the present and the future prevails. That is why we are often called upon to "forget the past" or "not to think about the future", but to stay settled in the present.
It is very difficult to specify where the present is, because time does not stop at any moment. This second that we are living, in just another second will be past; and it is only one second away from the future.
So "the now" is very contemptible. Likewise, it is true that the past is always happening. Countless of today's actions depend even on childhood experiences.
"The future is behind us" because yesterday holds the keys to understanding who we are and where we are going. Time and again we will encounter in the future the traces and consequences of the past. So understanding personal history and that of our people is a fundamental key to making today what will be tomorrow's reality.
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