Soulscape: Memories need sharp vision

Memory is an aspect of being human that most of us take for granted. In the general busyness of life that constantly urges us to look ahead, we fail to realise that our memory of what has been will dictate how the future will unfold.
A Maori proverb says: ''You spend your life walking backwards because you can see the past but not the future - that's why we trip.'' There's some debate as to whether the proverb encourages living life that way or warns against it. However I can see that both have their benefit. What it does tell us is that how we attend to our memories will map something of the way we will live in the present and, therefore, mould the future.
Most of us carry memories of past experiences that have affected us in some way. The problem is our modern culture has reduced our capacity to remember things with any clarity. In fact, we have trouble remembering events from only a few days or a month ago. We are glued, if you like, to this ever-shifting changing present, so we feel like our memory is slipping away from us. Thus we hang on to what we can because we believe those memories define who we truly are.
But is our memory honest? Is it a true account? Is it multifaceted enough to be trusted to shape our self-understanding?
Much of the conflict in the world, whether it be individual or between communities, is fuelled by memories. On one hand, memory preserves our self-identity and, on the other, it protects from allowing certain events to happen again. So how do we handle our memories in such a way that they bring life rather than mutating into something that destroys? Well, for starters, it's learning to remember rightly. At this point, I wear a Christian hat.
Over the years, I have had people do and say things to me that have been destructive. I remember these things all too clearly. But I remember them through a biblical lens. These acts were by people for whom Jesus Christ died. In just the same way he died for my sins too. In that sense, I know I am not an innocent in this world. It's not as if I stand in the light and they in the darkness. I have no right to bask in self-righteousness. It's not that I'm diminishing the effect of the actions, I don't. It's ''how'' I remember them that affects my present.
In recent times, I have found the pain is forgotten and God's goodness is remembered. This is a gift. But it only comes through a healed self and healed relationships.
So memory is a lens through which we interpret the past. What lens do you stare through? One that brings life, or one that enhances bitterness and pain? Choose the lens carefully; the flowering of your life depends on it.