PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 22455, 28 September 1936, Page 2

PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY CLUB

The subject studied last Thursdaj evening at the Dunedin Practica. Psychology Club was ‘ Weaning Oneself From the Past.’ Man, it was stated, was heir to the accumulated knowledge of the past, and for this he should he extremely grateful. But progress meant change, and man was being continually called upon to decide which of the older manners and customs to discard and which to ictain. The man who asserted that what was good enough _ tor his father was good enough for him or his son. was the type who not only hindered his own advancement hut deliberately barred the progress of others. Man must wean himself from as much of his personal past as was an enemy to his present development. Hh mind frequently was stored with ghosts, of the past, failures, disappointments, resentments, and untorgiven wrongs A common attitude of mind was to look back with vain regrets and selfcondemnation to mistakes and failures.All experiences were valuable for the wisdom and knowledge they brought, but when once this was gained there was little profit in repeating the experience, especially if it had been unpleasant, as man did by recalling and living it over again in his thoughts. Another harmful aspect of living in the past was condemnation of others, especially by their actions in past yeirs. Continual adverse thought of others in connection with some weak ness or failure in their past lives re-, tarded their progress and helped to chain them to the very conditions condemned. To wipe out completely from the memory anything it had once taken note of was impossible, for everything once seen, learned, sensed or heard was stored away, and was capable undei certain conditions of being brought to view again. Man, however, could cultivate the power to drive from the conscious mind whatever made him feel finhappy or whatever he discov ered was unprofitable to recall. In this connection the way to overcome Sad habits was discussed. Forgetting the things behind and pressing on to those before was a maxim having a thousand intensely practical applications. The robbers of time were the past and the future, so let man free himself from the bondage of the past and the fears of tire future by cultivating the art of living fully in the present.