"the past helps us explain the present"
but it is not the only way to explain the present
"we ignore it at our peril"
yeah you ignore *anything* you know at your peril - the act of ignoring is like a clear high-gloss varnish over the top of *the thing*, on account of the specific knowledge you've got to have of the thing you know that you want to know you are ignoring
the past is a character, a being, like everything else
what does love mean, between you?
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“what’s causing it” and “what does it want to do” are both questions requiring a strong imagination
it’s not that they’re swappable, but if your motivation is care for the future of a thing, angling your imagination through the thing in this now *towards the future* is literally more in line with your interests than angling through towards the past