This is a Response to Yvonne's Question.

"Why do you think people dwell on the past?"

This is a very interesting question. Extremely interesting as a matter of fact. All I can do is try to formulate an answer to this question. I feel as if people dwell, or live in the past for this reason. New found knowledge. After a problem or situation, people gain knowledge of what the "answer," or the right thing to do should have been. They obsess over the matter of the past because they wish that they had known what they know now. So, they constantly refer back to the past, almost to assure themselves that they have learned something. It is a minor way to try and prove that yes, you could have known what to do, if only you had time.

People also live in the past because of another reason. Glory. If life looks rough all one has to do is look back to past times, when times were better. It is a way to remember that things are not always bad, that they can become good again. Sometimes dwelling on the past can provide a sense of hope.

I find the quote the Yvonne provided with her question very interesting. "One reason God created time was so that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past." Which leads me to my question: If we bury our failures in the past, how can we ever learn from them? Should we not just keep them at bay and look back on them so we can readily learn from our mistakes?