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Process and Memory:
The Experience of Pastness
The experience of the past, through memory, is inseparable from the experience of the future, through anticipation—and both converge in the present. The present is the creative meeting point where the past flows into the future. The past belongs to the realm of the "already," what once was but is no longer; the future belongs to the "not-yet," what will come to be but has not yet arrived. Both are real, though in profoundly different ways.
A deep mystery of life lies in how the present continually becomes the past, clearing a path for the new to emerge. It is a mistake to view the past, as the realm of what has already happened, as static or uncreative. On the contrary, the past is alive with creativity and energy, though it has relinquished something essential—its immediacy, its now-ness.
My aim in this note is to explore the aliveness of the past as it resonates in the present, even as it has lost its immediacy. The past, though no longer "now," is not static or inert; it pulses with creativity and energy, shaping the present in profound and dynamic ways. It does so through the emotions by which its energies are felt, whether happy or sad, pleasant or painful. These emotions, these "subjective forms" to use Whitehead's phrase, are what I mean by the sense of pastness.
I borrow the term pastness from William James. In Principles of Psychology (1890), James writes:
"How do these things get their pastness? What is the original of our experience of pastness, from whence we get the meaning of the term?"
This phrasing is striking, as if pastness itself were an achievement—something things get. Yet this "getting" of pastness is also a loss: in acquiring pastness, they lose their presentness.
James's question invites us to reflect on the nature of the past. At first glance, it may seem straightforward to say the past is what remains of what was, stripped of its presentness and existing as an influence on what follows. From a Whiteheadian perspective, this could be described as the "objective immortality" of past actual entities—persisting as influences on their successors.
However, James hints at something deeper. The past, as we encounter it, is not merely the past "as such," but the feeling of pastness that arises in the present as we reflect on or remember what has come before. In Whitehead's terms, this feeling of pastness is an emotion or "subjective form," shaping how we prehend the past. This subjective form reflects both the loss and achievement of what has come before, making the past alive in the felt texture of the present. It is always relational.
Our experience of past events—and thus our sense of pastness—is never isolated. Whitehead’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of past, present, and future invites us to see pastness not as static but as a living part of the present. Each act of remembering reinterprets the past in light of present emotions, shaping who we are becoming. The varieties of pastness underscore how memory is shaped by relational contexts—personal, cultural, and cosmic.
There are countless forms of pastness in human life: that is, countless ways in which, emotionally, we experience the past and integrate it into the present. The past at issue can be painful, pleasant, or both at the same time, forming what Whitehead calls "contrasts" between emotions. Here are some examples:
Each form of pastness represents a unique way of emotionally engaging with the past, shaping how we experience and reinterpret it in the present. Together, they illuminate the dynamic and creative interplay between memory, feeling, and identity.
Unconscious Memory
Moreover, and importantly, each form of pastness can be unconscious as well as conscious. Indeed, Whitehead (along with Freud) suggests that most of our experiences of pastness are unconscious. This notion of unconscious pastness opens up a realm of inquiry into how the past shapes us in ways we may not fully realize, influencing our emotions, decisions, relationships, and even our sense of identity.
From a Whiteheadian perspective, unconscious pastness is embedded in the very fabric of existence through the process of prehension. Prehension refers to how each actual entity (a moment of experience) integrates influences from the past into its own becoming. Most of this integration occurs without explicit awareness, shaping both the physical and psychological dimensions of life. For example, our cells respond to their environments, influenced by countless prior events, while our habits and emotional tendencies reflect a deeper, often hidden, history of personal and collective experiences.
Psychologically, unconscious pastness manifests in several ways:
At the level of personal psychology, unconscious pastness includes what Freud described as repressed memories, which are aspects of the past that remain hidden due to their painful or disruptive nature. These repressed memories often surface indirectly through dreams, symbols, or behaviors, continuing to influence the present in subtle ways.
Collectively, unconscious pastness also connects with Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, which consists of archetypes and symbols shared across humanity. These deep, collective structures of meaning shape not only individual experiences of pastness but also cultural and social narratives.
Pastness in the Universe
In process thought, unconscious pastness is not confined to the human experience but extends to the cosmos itself. Every moment in the universe is shaped by its predecessors, incorporating the influences of the past into its becoming. At the most basic levels of existence, pastness is felt as the universe evolves, with unconscious processes influencing the formation of stars, ecosystems, and even quantum events.
This interplay between conscious and unconscious pastness underscores the depth of our connection to what has come before. The past is not a static repository but an active, living influence on the present, shaping it both within and beyond our awareness. By bringing elements of unconscious pastness into consciousness through reflection, therapy, or creative practices, we can transform our relationship with the past, reinterpreting it in ways that foster growth and healing.
Unconscious pastness, far from being merely a shadow of what has been, is a source of creative potential. It provides hidden resources and possibilities that can shape the future in profound ways. Understanding and engaging with these unseen dimensions of pastness allows us to live more fully, integrating the richness of the past into the dynamic and evolving story of our present and future.
Divine Pastness
In Whitehead’s process thought, God is deeply intertwined with the unfolding of the universe, embracing pastness in a way that is both transformative and relational. Far from being a detached observer or an omnipotent controller, God participates in the dynamic interplay of past, present, and future as both a companion to all creation and a creative force of becoming.
The consequent nature of God represents the divine capacity to receive and integrate the experiences of all entities. God takes the world’s joys, sufferings, triumphs, and failures into the divine life, holding them with infinite empathy and weaving them into a cosmic harmony. This process reflects what Whitehead calls "the weaving of contrasts"—the creation of new beauty from the tensions and complexities of existence.
God does not erase the pain of the past but transforms it by giving it meaning within a larger, ongoing story. This act of divine pastness offers the assurance that no experience is ever truly lost or forgotten; it is taken up into God’s own life, where it is held with love and care. In this sense, God is the ultimate witness and healer, bearing the weight of the world’s pastness while inviting it into a redemptive future.
While God receives the past, God also lures creation forward into new possibilities. This role reflects God’s primordial nature, the eternal source of potentialities and fresh opportunities. Every moment of experience, shaped by its past, is also drawn toward a future of creative possibilities offered by God. This divine lure is persuasive rather than coercive, respecting the freedom and agency of all entities while inviting them toward greater beauty, complexity, and harmony.
In this dual role—as the consequent nature that receives and redeems the past and as the primordial nature that offers possibilities for the future—God is both the loving companion of the world and its creative guide. This vision of God celebrates the relational and dynamic nature of divinity, emphasizing that God is deeply invested in the ongoing adventure of existence.
God’s relationship with the past reveals a profound vulnerability. By receiving the world’s experiences into the divine life, God is affected by the joys and sufferings of creation. This vulnerability is not a weakness but a testament to the depth of God’s love and relationality. God does not stand apart from the world’s pain but participates in it, offering comfort and hope even in the midst of tragedy.
At the same time, God’s power is not coercive or controlling but relational and persuasive. It is the power of love, invitation, and participation. God works within the constraints of the world’s freedom and limitations, offering possibilities for healing and transformation without overriding the autonomy of creation. This non-coercive power makes God trustworthy, for it reflects a divine commitment to partnership and mutuality rather than domination.
The Sacred Weaving of Pastness
In God, pastness becomes sacred. Each moment of experience, no matter how mundane or painful, is woven into the divine life and given a place in the ongoing story of the universe. This process reflects Whitehead’s idea of "the Harmony of Harmonies", in which the contrasts and complexities of existence are integrated into a larger, more beautiful whole.
This weaving is not instantaneous or final; it is an ongoing process that unfolds with the universe itself. Just as we reinterpret and transform our own pasts through acts of reflection, reconciliation, and creativity, so too does God continually reinterpret and transform the past of the world. In this way, God’s engagement with pastness is not static but dynamic, evolving in relationship with creation.
Love and Beauty
To trust in God’s relationship with pastness is to trust that no moment of life is meaningless or irredeemable. Even the darkest and most painful experiences are taken into God’s care, where they are held, transformed, and integrated into a larger story of love and creativity. This trust does not require us to deny the reality of suffering or the loss inherent in pastness but invites us to see these experiences as part of a larger process of becoming.
Whitehead’s vision encourages us to participate in this sacred process by embracing our own pastness with honesty and compassion. Through acts of memory, reflection, and creativity, we can join with God in transforming the past into a resource for healing, growth, and renewal. In doing so, we align ourselves with the divine adventure of life, where every moment—past, present, and future—is woven into the evolving story of a cosmos imbued with sacred possibilities.
There is no need to be overly romantic about this. The painful forms of pastness - painful memories - are not lost in God. They are still painful. But they are woven into God's life in a kind of tragic beauty, which carries its own hope. Let Whitehead have the last word:
What is done in the world is transformed into a reality in heaven, and the reality in heaven passes back into the world. By reason of this reciprocal relation, the love in the world passes into the love in heaven, and floods back again into the world. In this sense, God is the great companion—the fellow-sufferer who understands. We find here the final application of the doctrine of objective immortality. Throughout the perishing occasions in the life of each temporal Creature, the inward source of distaste or of refreshment, the judge arising out of the very nature of things, redeemer or goddess of mischief, is the transformation of Itself, everlasting in the Being of God. In this way, the insistent craving is justified—the insistent craving that zest for existence be refreshed by the ever-present, unfading importance of our immediate actions, which perish and yet live for evermore.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) (p. 352). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
A deep mystery of life lies in how the present continually becomes the past, clearing a path for the new to emerge. It is a mistake to view the past, as the realm of what has already happened, as static or uncreative. On the contrary, the past is alive with creativity and energy, though it has relinquished something essential—its immediacy, its now-ness.
My aim in this note is to explore the aliveness of the past as it resonates in the present, even as it has lost its immediacy. The past, though no longer "now," is not static or inert; it pulses with creativity and energy, shaping the present in profound and dynamic ways. It does so through the emotions by which its energies are felt, whether happy or sad, pleasant or painful. These emotions, these "subjective forms" to use Whitehead's phrase, are what I mean by the sense of pastness.
I borrow the term pastness from William James. In Principles of Psychology (1890), James writes:
"How do these things get their pastness? What is the original of our experience of pastness, from whence we get the meaning of the term?"
This phrasing is striking, as if pastness itself were an achievement—something things get. Yet this "getting" of pastness is also a loss: in acquiring pastness, they lose their presentness.
James's question invites us to reflect on the nature of the past. At first glance, it may seem straightforward to say the past is what remains of what was, stripped of its presentness and existing as an influence on what follows. From a Whiteheadian perspective, this could be described as the "objective immortality" of past actual entities—persisting as influences on their successors.
However, James hints at something deeper. The past, as we encounter it, is not merely the past "as such," but the feeling of pastness that arises in the present as we reflect on or remember what has come before. In Whitehead's terms, this feeling of pastness is an emotion or "subjective form," shaping how we prehend the past. This subjective form reflects both the loss and achievement of what has come before, making the past alive in the felt texture of the present. It is always relational.
Our experience of past events—and thus our sense of pastness—is never isolated. Whitehead’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of past, present, and future invites us to see pastness not as static but as a living part of the present. Each act of remembering reinterprets the past in light of present emotions, shaping who we are becoming. The varieties of pastness underscore how memory is shaped by relational contexts—personal, cultural, and cosmic.
There are countless forms of pastness in human life: that is, countless ways in which, emotionally, we experience the past and integrate it into the present. The past at issue can be painful, pleasant, or both at the same time, forming what Whitehead calls "contrasts" between emotions. Here are some examples:
- Nostalgic Pastness:
Definition: A bittersweet longing for a perceived simpler or happier time.
Example: Longing for carefree childhood summers spent playing in the neighborhood park. - Regretful Pastness
Definition: Sadness or remorse over past actions or events.
Example: Wishing you had handled a disagreement with a friend more thoughtfully. - Traumatic Pastness
Definition: Painful memories marked by fear or sorrow.
Example: Reliving a car accident in vivid, painful detail. - Reverent Pastness
Definition: Awe and respect for past events of significance.
Example: Reflecting on the sacrifices of ancestors who fought for civil rights. - Sentimental Pastness
Definition: Tender attachment to past experiences, often triggered by sensory cues.
Example: Feeling a rush of emotion when hearing the lullaby your mother used to sing. - Grateful Pastness
Definition: Thankfulness for people or events that shaped us positively.
Example: Remembering a teacher who believed in you during a tough period. - Melancholic Pastness
Definition: A deep sadness for what has been lost with time.
Example: Mourning a loved one while looking through old photographs. - Euphoric Pastness
Definition: Joyful recollections of triumphant or happy moments.
Example: Recalling the ecstatic moment of receiving your first big award. - Detached Pastness
Definition: Emotionally neutral or analytical reflection on the past.
Example: Studying family genealogy records without emotional attachment. - Haunting Pastness
Definition: A lingering sense of being weighed down by unresolved memories.
Example: Being unable to shake the guilt from a hurtful remark made years ago. - Transformative Pastness
Definition: Growth and empowerment drawn from reflecting on past experiences.
Example: Gaining wisdom and resilience after overcoming a challenging breakup. - Romanticized Pastness
Definition: An idealized view of the past, amplifying its positives.
Example: Viewing your college years as a flawless time of growth and fun. - Resilient Pastness
Definition: Pride and determination when recalling hardships overcome.
Example: Feeling a sense of triumph when remembering how you rebuilt your life after losing a job. - Curious Pastness
Definition: Fascination with the past, often leading to exploration or learning.
Example: Diving into archives to learn about the history of your hometown. - Bittersweet Pastness
Definition: A blend of joy and sadness tied to cherished but lost experiences.
Example: Smiling through tears while revisiting a cherished holiday tradition with someone now gone. - Reconciliatory Pastness
Definition: Peace and acceptance gained from resolving past conflicts.
Example: Finding peace after making amends with a family member over long-standing conflicts. - Fragmented Pastness
Definition: Disjointed or unclear feelings due to incomplete memories.
Example: Vaguely recalling snippets of a childhood trip but unable to piece it all together. - Prideful Pastness
Definition: A sense of satisfaction in recalling personal achievements.
Example: Reliving the moment you completed a marathon despite the odds. - Playful Pastness
Definition: Lighthearted joy in remembering funny or whimsical moments.
Example: Laughing at memories of goofy pranks pulled with old friends. - Embodied Pastness
Definition: Physical sensations evoked by memories.
Example: Feeling warmth and relaxation when smelling cookies like those your grandmother baked. - Anticipatory Pastness
Definition: Nostalgia intertwined with hope for the future.
Example: Nostalgia for the excitement you felt the night before your wedding, paired with hope for the future. - Communal Pastness
Definition: Emotional connection to shared historical or cultural experiences.
Example: Experiencing a shared sense of connection when attending a national commemoration event. - Mythical Pastness
Definition: Connection to symbolic or collective pasts, often cultural or religious.
Example: Feeling awe when connecting with stories of ancient heroes from your cultural heritage. - Redemptive Pastness
Definition: Finding meaning or value in painful or difficult memories.
Example: Finding purpose in painful memories of a personal struggle that led to helping others. - Elusive Pastness
Definition: A fleeting or hard-to-grasp feeling of something irretrievably lost.
Example: Feeling a vague, unplaceable longing triggered by an old tune you barely remember.
Each form of pastness represents a unique way of emotionally engaging with the past, shaping how we experience and reinterpret it in the present. Together, they illuminate the dynamic and creative interplay between memory, feeling, and identity.
Unconscious Memory
Moreover, and importantly, each form of pastness can be unconscious as well as conscious. Indeed, Whitehead (along with Freud) suggests that most of our experiences of pastness are unconscious. This notion of unconscious pastness opens up a realm of inquiry into how the past shapes us in ways we may not fully realize, influencing our emotions, decisions, relationships, and even our sense of identity.
From a Whiteheadian perspective, unconscious pastness is embedded in the very fabric of existence through the process of prehension. Prehension refers to how each actual entity (a moment of experience) integrates influences from the past into its own becoming. Most of this integration occurs without explicit awareness, shaping both the physical and psychological dimensions of life. For example, our cells respond to their environments, influenced by countless prior events, while our habits and emotional tendencies reflect a deeper, often hidden, history of personal and collective experiences.
Psychologically, unconscious pastness manifests in several ways:
- Emotional Residues: Traumatic or joyful experiences from the past leave emotional imprints that color our responses to present situations, even when we cannot consciously recall the specific events that shaped them.
- Cultural Conditioning: Shared traditions, norms, and collective memories are passed down through generations, subtly influencing our behaviors and values. These are examples of collective unconscious pastness.
- Embodied Memory: The body carries pastness through muscle memory, physical sensations, and habitual movements, such as instinctively flinching or relaxing in certain situations.
At the level of personal psychology, unconscious pastness includes what Freud described as repressed memories, which are aspects of the past that remain hidden due to their painful or disruptive nature. These repressed memories often surface indirectly through dreams, symbols, or behaviors, continuing to influence the present in subtle ways.
Collectively, unconscious pastness also connects with Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, which consists of archetypes and symbols shared across humanity. These deep, collective structures of meaning shape not only individual experiences of pastness but also cultural and social narratives.
Pastness in the Universe
In process thought, unconscious pastness is not confined to the human experience but extends to the cosmos itself. Every moment in the universe is shaped by its predecessors, incorporating the influences of the past into its becoming. At the most basic levels of existence, pastness is felt as the universe evolves, with unconscious processes influencing the formation of stars, ecosystems, and even quantum events.
This interplay between conscious and unconscious pastness underscores the depth of our connection to what has come before. The past is not a static repository but an active, living influence on the present, shaping it both within and beyond our awareness. By bringing elements of unconscious pastness into consciousness through reflection, therapy, or creative practices, we can transform our relationship with the past, reinterpreting it in ways that foster growth and healing.
Unconscious pastness, far from being merely a shadow of what has been, is a source of creative potential. It provides hidden resources and possibilities that can shape the future in profound ways. Understanding and engaging with these unseen dimensions of pastness allows us to live more fully, integrating the richness of the past into the dynamic and evolving story of our present and future.
Divine Pastness
In Whitehead’s process thought, God is deeply intertwined with the unfolding of the universe, embracing pastness in a way that is both transformative and relational. Far from being a detached observer or an omnipotent controller, God participates in the dynamic interplay of past, present, and future as both a companion to all creation and a creative force of becoming.
The consequent nature of God represents the divine capacity to receive and integrate the experiences of all entities. God takes the world’s joys, sufferings, triumphs, and failures into the divine life, holding them with infinite empathy and weaving them into a cosmic harmony. This process reflects what Whitehead calls "the weaving of contrasts"—the creation of new beauty from the tensions and complexities of existence.
God does not erase the pain of the past but transforms it by giving it meaning within a larger, ongoing story. This act of divine pastness offers the assurance that no experience is ever truly lost or forgotten; it is taken up into God’s own life, where it is held with love and care. In this sense, God is the ultimate witness and healer, bearing the weight of the world’s pastness while inviting it into a redemptive future.
While God receives the past, God also lures creation forward into new possibilities. This role reflects God’s primordial nature, the eternal source of potentialities and fresh opportunities. Every moment of experience, shaped by its past, is also drawn toward a future of creative possibilities offered by God. This divine lure is persuasive rather than coercive, respecting the freedom and agency of all entities while inviting them toward greater beauty, complexity, and harmony.
In this dual role—as the consequent nature that receives and redeems the past and as the primordial nature that offers possibilities for the future—God is both the loving companion of the world and its creative guide. This vision of God celebrates the relational and dynamic nature of divinity, emphasizing that God is deeply invested in the ongoing adventure of existence.
God’s relationship with the past reveals a profound vulnerability. By receiving the world’s experiences into the divine life, God is affected by the joys and sufferings of creation. This vulnerability is not a weakness but a testament to the depth of God’s love and relationality. God does not stand apart from the world’s pain but participates in it, offering comfort and hope even in the midst of tragedy.
At the same time, God’s power is not coercive or controlling but relational and persuasive. It is the power of love, invitation, and participation. God works within the constraints of the world’s freedom and limitations, offering possibilities for healing and transformation without overriding the autonomy of creation. This non-coercive power makes God trustworthy, for it reflects a divine commitment to partnership and mutuality rather than domination.
The Sacred Weaving of Pastness
In God, pastness becomes sacred. Each moment of experience, no matter how mundane or painful, is woven into the divine life and given a place in the ongoing story of the universe. This process reflects Whitehead’s idea of "the Harmony of Harmonies", in which the contrasts and complexities of existence are integrated into a larger, more beautiful whole.
This weaving is not instantaneous or final; it is an ongoing process that unfolds with the universe itself. Just as we reinterpret and transform our own pasts through acts of reflection, reconciliation, and creativity, so too does God continually reinterpret and transform the past of the world. In this way, God’s engagement with pastness is not static but dynamic, evolving in relationship with creation.
Love and Beauty
To trust in God’s relationship with pastness is to trust that no moment of life is meaningless or irredeemable. Even the darkest and most painful experiences are taken into God’s care, where they are held, transformed, and integrated into a larger story of love and creativity. This trust does not require us to deny the reality of suffering or the loss inherent in pastness but invites us to see these experiences as part of a larger process of becoming.
Whitehead’s vision encourages us to participate in this sacred process by embracing our own pastness with honesty and compassion. Through acts of memory, reflection, and creativity, we can join with God in transforming the past into a resource for healing, growth, and renewal. In doing so, we align ourselves with the divine adventure of life, where every moment—past, present, and future—is woven into the evolving story of a cosmos imbued with sacred possibilities.
There is no need to be overly romantic about this. The painful forms of pastness - painful memories - are not lost in God. They are still painful. But they are woven into God's life in a kind of tragic beauty, which carries its own hope. Let Whitehead have the last word:
What is done in the world is transformed into a reality in heaven, and the reality in heaven passes back into the world. By reason of this reciprocal relation, the love in the world passes into the love in heaven, and floods back again into the world. In this sense, God is the great companion—the fellow-sufferer who understands. We find here the final application of the doctrine of objective immortality. Throughout the perishing occasions in the life of each temporal Creature, the inward source of distaste or of refreshment, the judge arising out of the very nature of things, redeemer or goddess of mischief, is the transformation of Itself, everlasting in the Being of God. In this way, the insistent craving is justified—the insistent craving that zest for existence be refreshed by the ever-present, unfading importance of our immediate actions, which perish and yet live for evermore.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) (p. 352). Free Press. Kindle Edition.