Most would consider our consciousness as humans to be impossible without the existence of memory.  Surely, intelligence would not be possible without it.  Yet memory has a downside.  Memory chains us to what was, and conditions our present.  What we struggle to be free of are memories.

The very existence of memory is a symptom of the human belief in the reality of the past and its influence on the present.  Memory cannot exist without our belief in the continuity of time. 

Forgiveness, stripped of all religious or pseudo-religious connotations, is the complete absence of memory.  It has a psychological function, not a religious one. As long as a wrong is recollected, it cannot be wholly forgiven.  Forgiveness is forgetfulness.  It is an attempt to experience the present unencumbered by the past.  Until we can let go of memories, we cannot live in the present.  Until we live in the present, we cannot experience peace.  

© 2025 by Michael C. Just