Not Your Normal “How To”

4 Ways to Change the Past

[Updated Feb 8, 2021] We always have a past, but we decide what past we have in creating who we are in the present.

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CONTENT

[1] The 4 Ways We Change Our Past — [1.1] We Deny the Past — [1.2] We Ignore the Past — [1.3] We Forgive the Past — by giving it a new meaning — [1.4] We Create a New Past [2] Instantaneous Manifestations [3] Timelines, Déjà Vu, & Alternate Realities [4] How to Change Events in Our Past [5] Related Resources

“Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.” — Sarah Dessen (in ‘What Happened to Goodbye’)

OUR “Past”, both individually and collectively, is one of those things that is fundamental to how we experience life on this planet.

We remember parts of our past, but we forget many other parts. Whether remembered of forgotten, they shape our identities through the stories we tell of our past (both those we emphasize and those we ignore). We even display our past through our physical bodies (such as scars and tattoos). And some suggest that past events, especially traumas, are “remembered” in every cell of our body.

“The past is never where you think you left it.” ― Katherine Anne Porter

[1] The 4 Ways We Change Our Past

WHEN asked, most would say that we cannot change our past. Some, however, say that we are always changing your past, usually by selecting which parts we want to remember in the present, and which we want to forget.

There are essentially four ways that we are always changing past events or accumulations of events that have occurred in our personal and collective lives.

[1.1] We Deny the Past

We pretend that an event or person did not exist, trying to erase it or them from our personal and collective minds. We also created new, imagined and fictional pasts to replace one that we are denying, which is the same thing.

I consider this the weakest approach because, despite our denials, we know that it is not true. The “true” past is forever locked in the deepest corners of our private and collective minds, and as such, it will resurface again when we least expect it.

[1.2] We Ignore the Past

Rather than intentionally denying that a certain past ever existed, we can simply try to live our life by ignoring it. This is probably more common than we realize because modern life can get us so busy as to leave no time to contemplate the past.

In spiritual communities, this could take the form of spiritual bypassing — using the concept of “Be Here Now”, for example, to leave no space for considerations of the past. This is slightly better than intentionally denying the past, but similarly, the past will probably arise at some point when one least expects it — such as in a dark night of the soul spiritual experience.

Denying and ignoring the past are how most people have traditionally addressed issues from the past that they find unsettling or simply do not want to deal with. These approaches are both based on separation — treating the past as something different from who we are, which is a characteristic of 3rd Dimensional (or Density) consciousness.

For most, such acts are done subconsciously and intentionally, because they are what “everyone” does. In fact, we are constantly changing the past, individually and socially, in these ways mostly without realizing that we are doing so.

From a social science perspective, the historical geographer, David Lowenthal, in one of my favorite scholarly books, “The Past is a Foreign Country”, argued that we only see the past through the distorted lens of our present individual and societal values and beliefs.

Because of that, every time we recognize (or name) something as a historical or past event or object, we change it in some way. It can never be what is originally was. A farming tool that is on display in a museum, for example, will never be seen, understood, valued, or used in the same way that was when it was considered a normal tool used by a farmer.

At a more physical science level, as YG noted in his comment to this article, psychology tells us that we are constantly modifying our memories of the past, totally unbeknownst to us. For example:

[1.3] We Forgive the Past — by giving it a new meaning

Forgiving the past means to change one’s interpretation, meaning, or relationship to a past event or series of events. This most commonly entails changing our interpretations of a past event from bad to good, or at least allowing it to be what it is, often through some formal psychological process.

“Good” of course, can be defined in different ways. For many, the main goal is to be able to accept a bad past event in such as way that it does not interfere with your present experience.

One way we do this is by simply seeing a past event from the larger perspective of 20–20 hindsight. Despite how horrible our memory of an event was, from a large perspective, there is always some element of good that can be found. If you cannot find it, go larger, longer and deeper — or seek assistance.

Trauma experiences require formal intervention to help that is beyond the scope of this article. Trauma counseling for individuals has become increasingly accessible nowadays. Trauma intervention at a societal scale has been approached through various “truth and reconciliation commissions” since the 1980s, with some degree of success.

Spiritual and higher consciousness approaches to forgiving individual and collective traumas of the past have been emerging in recent years as well. These practices tend to start with a meditation that is intended to connect us to our Higher Self or Soul level consciousness, from which the trauma work then proceeds.

An example of this is seen in the work of Thomas Huebl:

Trauma work has the advantage of being able to uncover aspects of our past that we have forgotten, both intentionally and otherwise. Other practices, such as hypnotherapy, can also bring this back into our memory.

As a more day-to-day practice, just try to remember that nothing is ever 100% negative, or 100% positive. Positive and negative, and good and bad are human ego value judgements. From the Soul (or Higher Self) perspective, everything is a reflection of Source (God) and, as such, is of equal value in the course of the universe.

See, for example:

Forgiving, redefining, and allowing our less desired pasts is considered he psychologically healthiest way to change the past. They also reflect a higher state of consciousness and awakening, based more on unity and oneness, in comparison to the separation of denying and ignoring the past.

And while forgiving the past is still mostly a 3rd Dimensional modality, it can have a big impact on the changing who we are in the present. On the other hand, it does not “really” change the actual events of the past.

[1.4] We Create a New Past

Can we really create a new, different past that completely erases an existing past? Well, no, you cannot do that from the 3rd Dimension, where time and space are solidly fixed laws of our collective consciousness.

But, you can change the past from a higher dimensional (or density) state of consciousness, where time and space become increasingly flexible (see the Dimensions article linked above). And that will, in turn, change your 3rd Dimensional timeline (past, present and future).

We not only can change the past in this way, but we are actually doing it constantly. We do not know that we are doing this because the “new past” almost always completely erases the old one from our memory. (The old past is not technically “erased”, it is just not part of the new timeline that we have shifted to.)

“Every action changes every other action. … Therefore every action in the present affects those actions which you call the past. Ripples from a thrown stone go out in all directions.” — Seth (Jane Roberts), The Early Sessions, volume 5, Session 224, January 17, 1966

and

The past, the present and the future as you know them are illusion, and yet they exist now. You can influence the past today; you can have memory of the future. You can draw upon the knowledge of the future today. You can change the past tomorrow.” — TES7 Part Two Of Seth’s Lecture To Pat’s Boston High School Class March 25, 1967

Quantum physics is also finding time to be more flexible than we assume. For example:

From the highest spiritual perspectives, the present moment is all that ever exists! (Some of the more popular spiritual, not religious, books ever published have emphasized this point.)

You create your past, present and future simultaneously in each new moment point of time. You can (and do) change your past in the moment point (the Now), by changing the energetic vibration that you put out in the present moment.

At a simple level, if you are happy at the moment point, the past that you remember is likely to be happy; if you are sad at the moment point, the past that you remember is likely to be sad. If this simple example only affects memory and emotions and does not actually change a past event, then it is a selective interpretation, like Denying, Ignoring and Forgiving the past.

However, if one’s emotional feelings actually do change the facts of a past event, then it is, of course, something on an entirely different level of consciousness and reality.

At a more complex level of understanding, you create the entire universe that you experience in the present moment point. That universe has a story (a past), which you also create in each present moment.

Another way to look at this is that each Now is a snapshot of a parallel reality. As we move from one Now to the next (perhaps a million times each second), we create and experience “time”. We are always choosing the next parallel reality (or “now”) to experience, each of which has its own past, present and future. This is how we create and change our individual and mass timelines.

Yet another way to understand that time does not really exist is from the commonly held New Age spirituality perspective that everything is a vibration or frequency. Everything that feels like “the past” feels that way because it shares a distinct vibration — usually a slower and lower vibration than in the present.

Similarly, there is a “future” vibration that is different from the vibration of the past and the present. Usually, it is a faster and higher vibration than the present.

But in reality, all we are ever experiencing are different frequencies of vibration. We weave these together to create timelines.

The idea that “time” is fixed and unchangeable is a powerfully strong characteristic of our 3rd Dimension. But it is much weaker in higher dimensions (such as in our dreams, for example), and is completely non-existent in the highest dimension.

One definition of the 4th Dimension describes it as a place where we learn to move through time (past, present, and future) in the same way that we moved through space (length, width, height, and depth) in the 3rd Dimension.

While we cannot normally bring our physical bodies into those more flexible higher dimensions, we can, with proper practice, go there with our emotional and mental bodies — with our consciousness. And it is with those more subtle bodies that we change our timelines.

For more on Timelines of Past, Present and Future, see:

Seth II: “As we peer into your room, so do you peer into other realities all unknowing. You do not physically recall those journeys that you have yourselves made and are now making. You leave from any moment of your time and you are gone sometimes for centuries of physical time. You leave in the middle of a day and return the day before yesterday or a thousand years hence. Now, that is reality ….

— Seth II (Jane Roberts), The Early Sessions, Book 3, ESP Class Session, Jan 19, 1971 (Seth II is a “future” version of Seth, who was channeled by Jane Roberts from the mid-1960s to 1984.)

[2] Instantaneous Manifestations

Our Soul resides at the highest dimension. It is a mirror image of God or Source, and as such, our Soul’s desires are always manifested instantly. In addition, our Soul’s desires will always manifest in our lives — eventually. How long that takes depends on how much our ego personality resists those Soul desires, through its beliefs.

If we are completely connected to our Soul (or our highest level of consciousness), then we will manifest our desires instantaneously, because we and our Soul are one and the same. For the vast majority of us, however, it takes us a while, possibly several life incarnations, to manifest the most important things we want.

This understanding of Instantaneous Manifestation shows how “time” is basically created by the beliefs and resistances that we hold about what is and is not possible in our current life. And this applies to the past as much as the future.

For example, this is one of my favorite quotes from Seth (Jane Roberts) on a more appropriate way to understand the past, but which would require a major change in our beliefs:

“It is truer to say that heredity operates from the future backward into the past, than it is to say that it operates from the past into the present.” — Seth (Jane Roberts), The “Unknown” Reality, Session 684, February 20, 1974

For more on the Soul and Instantaneous Manifestations, see:

[3] Timelines, Déjà Vu, & Alternate Realities

MOST of the time, we do not stray very far from the story (or timeline) that we have created for ourselves as we move from one present moment to the next.

But we certainly can, which is sometimes referred to as “switching timelines”. This can happen at both individual and societal/global levels, where masses of individuals agree (subconsciously) to change their past, present, and future.

As stated before, most people will only remember the new past, not the old one — so they have no idea that they switched timelines. A few individuals who are very spiritually advanced can remember more of the different timelines that they have created and changed. Déjà Vu experiences are a more common way that many of us sometimes (not always) experience an old or different timeline.

Time and space are strongly felt characteristics of our 3rd Dimensional lives on Earth. They also exist in higher dimensions, but are much less rigid the higher one goes in vibration (or density).

At these highest dimensional levels, there is a greater and greater knowing that everything exists in the present moment. This enables one to more easily visit and experience what we on Earth perceive as past and future, as well as alternative parallel lives and realities. The highest dimensions also have more knowledge of shared collective timelines.

“If you say that the future is dependent upon the past, therefore, you must also say that the past is dependent upon the future.” — Seth/Jane Roberts, “The Early Sessions, Book 5”, session 224 on January 17, 1966

[4] How to Change Events in Our Past

THE FOUR methods outlined above all work to change the past. Each, however, has its pluses and minuses.

The first two (denying and ignoring the past) are the easiest to do and do not require any effort to expand one’s consciousness. They are built-in features, one could say, of the 3rd Dimension. However, they leave a lot of shadows lurking in our subconscious (both individually and collectively) that we will most likely need to be addressed at some point and in some incarnation.

The third (forgiving the past) requires a more expanded consciousness or awareness, and a greater openness to face the personal or social (or both) shadows that are embedded in a past event or experience. It is definitely harder to do, but it can bring one into acceptable terms with the shadows of the past and put them in an allowable space in the present.

None of the first three, however, really changes the facts of a past event. The fourth approach, the spiritual one, can put us into a new and different timeline that is shared with others and essentially never had the past event that we wanted to erase.

The spiritual approach, however, does not give us the satisfaction of knowing that we made such a change (except in very rare occasions). If you want the ego satisfaction of consciously knowing you did something, then the third approach of forgiving the past would be best.

Otherwise, if you want to change your timeline, to create a totally new past, you simply need to be able to bring your consciousness completely into the present moment. This is because it is in the present moment that you create your present experience, the past that led up to the present, and a set of probably future scenarios that reflect the present.

Although we do this all the time in each new present moment, to do this with conscious awareness and intention is, of course, very challenging. It requires a very high level of consciousness that few have mastered, and may take several life incarnations of concerted spiritual practice.

I have heard that the past is characterized by lower, slower, and more contracted vibrations than in the present moment. The future is made up of faster, higher, and more expansive vibrations. This is because our universe is eternally expanding into infinity.

But also, both past and present emanate from the present. It is those present vibrations that we are working with to visit and change the past and to see the future. To do that takes at least a 4th Dimension state of consciousness, which is what most clairvoyants use to foretell the future. To actually change the past or future probably requires a 5D or 6D state of consciousness.

Meditation is a key tool in developing and expanding our consciousness because it helps to silence the ego’s monkey mind. Many other spiritual teachings and practices also try to bring us fully into the present moment from which we can best affect the past and future. That is also considered an advanced stage of awakening and enlightenment.

Another way to move toward a timeline practice is to remind yourself that the past, present and future all emerge from the same energy or vibration that we put forward in each moment. Then just try to feel the vibration of what you want to change or bring into the reality of the past or future.

Thus, by making the present moment the best that you can imagine, the past and future will fall into alignment with that. This takes faith in the power of the present, as well as letting go of the past and the future, and allowing them all to change.

“Change” is the only constant in the universe, so we need to be that change to change ourselves.

We are incredibly powerful beings. Creating the past, present and future in every moment point is how we demonstrate the power that we have.

“THE PRESENT IS THE POINT OF POWER.”

The above is one of the most important sentences in this book in practical terms and working within the framework of time as you understand it.

…All of your physical, mental, and spiritual abilities are focused together, then, in the brilliant concentration of “present” experience. You are not at the mercy of the past or of previous convictions, unless you BELIEVE that you are. If you fully comprehend your POWER in the present, you will realize that action at that point also alters the past, its beliefs and your reactions.

In other words, I am telling you that your present beliefs, in a manner of speaking, are like the directions given to the entire personality, simultaneously organizing and reorganizing past experience according to your current concepts of reality.

The future — the probable future — is being altered in the same way, of course.”

— Seth (Jane Roberts), The Nature of Personal Reality, Chapter 15, Session 657, April 18, 1973

[5] Related Resources

⬇️ Listen to this voice channeling from my Energy Group/Higher Self on past-present-future timelines:

• For more on Understanding Time and Creating Timelines, see this collection of articles:

• Note that the articles in that collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles, go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.

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