I approach the question of the past’s utility and relevance in the future through the singular and all encompassing link between the past and the future - the present. 

It starts, as most tangible things do, with the beginning of time itself. By using ‘it’ I refer to, of course, the understanding of the past. It ends here, in this moment, or extends to the next, until a fine line blurs it into the future. What I aim to address here, is the beginning of this thread of the past. Where is it coming from? Turns out the very fabric of the cosmos unraveled, and it is that very thread that has stretched on over time, till it wraps around us in the present moment.

The beginning of the world, or the moment when the human mind conjured up the concept of time, or perhaps when the very first star began to form in the universe after the big bang - these are the starting points of our understanding of the past, if measured in terms of linear time.

The future - unknowable, but not free from predictions made in the present, often fantasized about while the present moments continue to fly by, it is  a big question mark hanging upside down. It is a source of hope or joy for many, something to look forward to and something that keeps them going, while it instills dread in others, leaving them unable to think of it without the accompaniment of fear or worry.

The past - nostalgic, tinted, hazy and beyond our reach. The human experience or rather perception, of the past they have lived is stored in the mind. I liken them to 

bubbles that might burst open any moment, or drift away to a place that cannot be perceived. Yet, my comparison is rendered stale as the past seems to persevere in its consequences that we face in the present, in the crumbs of biscuits stuck to my fingers from the snack I had in the morning, and the pieces of photo paper that are stained with ink and faces I cannot recognize anymore. A small thing, overlooked - the sticky floor when bubbles burst open. The soapy substance left behind when the surface tension snaps. The comparison holds on, not ready to be brushed aside just yet, and postulates: perhaps these are the undeniable physical manifestations that store memories in the physical world. The soapy floor, the biscuit crumbs and the photographs. They exist outside the mind. They store the past in a way that can even be perceived by those who have never directly experienced it.

Presentism talks of the “omnipresent present”, as described by François Hartog. The phrase aptly describes my personal interpretation of the relation between the past and the present, and by extension, of the relation between the present and the future. The past and future are both perceived by those in the present. The very existence of these depends on whether the individual in the present finds it necessary to inquire about this perceived “past” or “future”. This pondering too, which takes place in the present, is sparked by factors influencing an individual’s present.

The past exists only in the present, and the future is nothing but a conjured present. 

It is from here that I leap onto another rock, and come to yet another conclusion. The past is as good of a guide to the future as the past to the present or the present to the future, for there is no past or future without the present, which is a mitigated way of expressing my absolute belief that the past and future do not exist, only the present is a real entity.

Those movies where the main character is stuck in a time loop comes to mind. That character repeats the same day again and again, changing the events of each day by his actions, but the outcome remains the same until the climax - the day is repeated. Or is it? What indicators could possibly tell us that the day is being repeated, if it were not for time and our memory. If a person with amnesia woke up in a time loop, in a room without clocks, in a place without human interactions that might indicate so, who would ever know?

The present is what guides us in the present. It is the actions we take every living moment, their consequences that we face in further present moments and the recollection of these consequences, the realizations of patterns - that shape our past and it is this “past present” that shapes our choices, habits and behaviors in the “present present” and it is this very moment that shapes the conjured present or the “future present”.

Our present is a blank page, each step we take forms a line or a path on the map, each mistake or lesson we learn marks the quicksands to avoid, faint dotted lines mark potential paths we might take in the coming moments. This is the aerial view. This is what you see from above. 

As you stand in the forest of the present, with your feet on the ground if this world and your eyes no longer perceive from above,  you cannot see the path you have traced. Your footsteps behind you have been erased and there are no dotted lines to guide you further. Lost in the maze of trees, you do not have the luxury of falling back to the path you came from, no breadcrumb trail to guide you, nor any landmarks you recognize. This is the present, and this is where you are. The past does not exist for this soul lost in the green. The future is not yet here, and never will be, for as soon as it arrives, it becomes the present. The dotted lines and potential paths are not real.

The past and the future - similar in their sense of unreality, in their ties to the present, yet different in the nature of their relationship and in their effect on each other. Well, as different as two things that do not exist can be, if they affected each other. The present is the lens through which you perceive the past, and it is natural for the present mind to exhibit present centeredness in its approach and analysis of the past and even of the future. It is the present which greatly affects the past and future, not the other way round. 

The past is ever changing. It is not the rigid, unreachable place that we think. It is fluid and changing as its perception in the present changes due to the ever changing nature of the lens, the present, itself. If is as if i were to go to the eye doctor, and he would take multi-colored lenses and one by one, test them out as I attached them to the frame sitting on my eyes. Each change brings about a massive shift in my perception of the world. This is how current events, moods, and innumerable other present variables affect the past and change it in an instant. This past, in an ever shifting fluid state of motion, going molten and gushing like a river, cannot possibly be a good guide for the future. The present draws on it, dwells on it, manipulates it to its convenience and then spits it out, forgotten after it no longer possesses utility. The past is overwhelmed by the present, the guide is scribbled on by the creator, and it is up to the creator, it is up to the individual living in the present to determine the future. To make, not a guide, but a present documentation of the living of  present life. This, I believe, is the only guide we ever have the luxury of accessing, the only support we get from the perceived past to live on in the conjured present.