Time and us

"Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

musings:

the past contains the being of what has been,
which must not be reduced to what we remember;
for what has been and, without leaving discernible traces,
has been forgotten by everyone,
has been nevertheless,
and will forever have BEEN

but

if the past is not of irrevocable nature,
if its unalterability is changing by the history we tell,
and we can make it whatever we want -
then memories of the past might be desires of the future,
and preceding experiences might be nothing but dreams
and possibilities still to come

but

if there is something like fate,
if the way we walk is already marked,
linear, predestined,
then past and future are timewise equivalent and
as much real as the NOW,
all of them existing at the same time

but

a simultaneous existence in time
throws us back to the only reality we have:
the NOW in an empty space,
and we are creating our way
with every step we take.

future solely comprises possibilities;
it can either be understood as a homogenuous continuation
of the past being, or as an empty space
for whatever may come -

as an unlimited open space of potentialities
before the present decision,
restricted to the logical consequences of our actions,

or as a determined part of a predestined fate,
traced out ever since,
no matter what we do.

but it could also be pure arbitrariness,
sheer coincidence,
in the void of the illusions of time.

and presence!

the moment of our only true meeting with the world,
the moment of our ascent towards being by means of freedom -

what the world is and what i am
might be a result of the past, or
of my imagination, or of a strange chance,
or even of fate;

but what i can make it, hic et nunc, is depending on nobody
but myself, is coming into being
through myself, an absolute presence created
by myself.

crossways through time towards this flash of light:
the moment that is eternity.