My aim is true.

“Store consciousness is a kind of chamber where the films of the past are always being projected. It is there that we keep our memories of trauma and suffering. We know in principle that the past is already gone. But the images of the past are still there, and from time to time—whether in our dreams or when we’re awake—we go back and experience the suffering of the past. We have the tendency to get imprisoned in the past. In principle, we know that the past is no longer that our memories are only a film, pictures of the past. But the films continue to be projected, and every time the film is projected, we suffer again. 

Suppose we’re in a movie theater and a film is being projected on the screen. Sitting in our seat and looking at the film, we may believe this is a true story. We may even cry. The suffering is real; the tears are real. But the experience isn’t happening right now, it’s only a film. If I invite you to come up close to the screen with me and we touch the screen, we can see that no one is there, there’s only light flickering on the screen. We can’t talk to the people onscreen, we can’t invite them to have tea with us, because this is a fictive story, unreal. Yet it can create real suffering, real depression.

 

It’s very important to realize that the inner child is still there, caught in the past. We have to rescue him. Sitting stably, establishing ourselves in the present moment, we have to talk to the child within: “My dear young brother, my dear young sister, you should know that we have grown up. We can protect and defend ourselves now.”