1. I think time still is circular or — better put — spiral-like. It is only a particular contemporary mindset that doesn’t perceive this clearly nowadays. This is the value of celebrating traditional holidays, as Rudolf Steiner pointed out, and as is very deliberately practiced in Waldorf pedagogy. If you make a point of celebrating certain spiritual/natural cyclic events — such as Christmas, Easter, St. Martin’s day, etc. — there is always a sense of how things return, but with richer meaning each time, as one grows in experience and wisdom.

2. The older I get, the more I realize the past is not gone. I am endlessly re-experiencing the past every day in my memory and re-evaluating the past every time something reminds me of it, and I go back into the treasure troves of memory to mine the valuable lessons to be learned if from this gift called my life.

Progress does not need to be pursued. It happens naturally if we use the present moment properly.

“How about the philosophy of the ‘here and now’? The key to happiness is to live the present”.

We should not try and live in the past because the past is gone and there is nothing we can do about it, so we should not dwell on it, but only learn from it.

We should not try to live in the future because no one knows what the future holds for us.

The present however is different. We can control and choose what we are doing in the present moment and the present is to be enjoyed. I think of the present like this: “The present is nothing more then the past plus all of the changes that have been included and passed along to the present. Another way of putting it is, the present is the progress that has been made up until the present, the now.”

So, progress is good, and progress/change is occurring at an ever accelerating rate. We have progressed from the Stone Age, the Iron Age the Industrial Age, and now the Electronic Age with all of its wonderful technology that can benefit mankind as never before.

Yes, people are still killing each other (but at a slower rate) and that won’t change anytime soon because of all of the different religious factions and beliefs in the world today. But still we learn, we grow, we change, and so does the world. Ah, how good it is to be alive today! So, enjoy today, and enjoy the moment while it’s still here!

How about the philosophy of the ‘here and now’? The key to happiness is to live the present moment, isn’t it?

About the ‘progress’ in the World… I consider it just a change – the ‘battle’ of the sexes, the ‘battle’ of generations, the ‘battle’ of races… The question is, where do you find your place in it?

Another perspective: years ago, they produced a vast amount of fighter jets for ‘defence’… Now they produce enormous amounts of passenger jets – for people to visit each other. Do you call it a ‘progress’? It depends on your point of view.

Cheers!