No and this is the reason why, our past is a hindrance to us, we carry around this stuff with us on our shoulders a heavy yoke to bare. "This happened to me, this person hurt me, this happened last time I tried that." All serving to stop us and give us fear of the future, or hinder us having any kind of meaningful relationship because of a past incident.

In fact the past doesn't exist that is why it is called the past it is past, in other words gone! But we keep recreating in our minds to remember it even on a subconscious level. If we could just destroy these memories we would be able to function so much better because there would be no dead end wall there with a big sign saying "Danger do you really want to get hurt again?"

Furthermore this past creates depression, "Why why why did this happen, why did she leave me" etc... We can get stuck in this constant recreation of the experience even many years later.

But if for a moment we could remove this memory that past doesn't exist to us anymore and we can move forward with confidence boldly because we have no feelings of dread attached to what we are about to achieve.

Your personal history is important .. to forget. Like stated by those before,you are here now. the classic quote from 1984 rings true here

Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.

---- 1984 by George Orwell

peace

Let us leave the past in the past, and forge ahead into the future with new confidence, and strength, and if the past happens to come up, let us acknowledge it, deal with it, and send back on its' way, to do no harm to the future, since we do not need to live in the past, but to look ahead, and live in the present!

I believe ones history is only important to anyone who can learn from it.

Michael :)

So instead of writing comments on everyone else's answers let me add this:

Once again this is ALL subject to perspective. Only one person , the self knows one whole history and that too the self has it's own perspective and opinion on it. But I can ask 10 different people on the history of an individual and all ten would be different. In some ways similar but also Different

• I know that guy, the Grateful deadhead from the eighties, yeah what a waste.
• Oh that accountant guy, yeah he is great with numbers, probably an impecable credit score
• Yeah I know that person, he was a dj at the night club, such the ladies man but what a cocky son of a bitch.

• I remember him, he used to go to the Synagogue every week, a very religious man he is

• That shy kid from high school, he is probably a recluse now.

As you see all of these assessments are valid but none of them are true. (this is a fictitious character) and all of these opinions are based on the past of anothers limited perspective of one is able to see of ones life.

So ones history maybe can not be tampered with but very very subjective. We tend to see what we want from our limited view.

Personal history is important because it can be a reliable predictor of future behavior. That is why people have credit scores, and why prospective employers look at your work history.

To prove that you are no longer who your personal history says you are, you have to demonstrate a pattern of new behavior that is reliable and consistent, over a significant period of time.

With so many distortions out there, personal history is the only thing you can trust to be untampered with. Thus, it can be used as basis of tried and true.

Thank you, namaste

Yes, because it explains why a person "is" in the now.

It depends on the application. For deciding who to hire for a job or who to marry, yes, but for personal growth, no.

It is our beliefs that matter. It is our beliefs that shape who we are and how view and respond to the world. We picked up our beliefs in the past, but it is up to us Now to keep them or not.

I can't imagine why it wouldn't be important. If you say it's unimportant it's like saying it doesn't have value. I think it does have value, partly because it has contributed to who you have become today, and you wouldn't be here without it, and also because it is usually something to learn from. (I don't know why I'm saying 'usually'; everyone has made mistakes they can learn from!)

I can appreciate the argument that it doesn't matter because there is only ever the present moment, but for me, to ignore personal history completely would be to only see part of a whole and therefore perhaps to not understand it as fully and in as much depth as you might.

For example, if you are in therapy it gives the therapist an idea of how best to work with you, the things that have happened to you and how you have reacted to them; why you are the way you are. It's kind of like seeing a new moon - the full moon is still there but you are only seeing part of it.

every thing is important. you need to learn from past mistake to not do them again. every one that came before you made mistake. if you are able to see thoses mistake you will not do them again. i am pretty sure that you have made mistake in your past that if you could go back you would do something else. or if the same event happenned now you would not make the same mistake again. i will also add that to know what was good in the past and keep it for now and the future is also important. if you do not know the past you do not know where you are going. always be in truth with out judgement and you will be able to see the truth. i could also give you simple example of that people sometime get in a patern to find fault in other people and blame each other. in truth you know that this is not good. if you can just observe and learn the truth you will see that it is a childish game. just see the stone pass by. you know who throw them by their behaviour you know why they do that and that it does not serve them. and you will see they will try to get you in their games. what will it bring you? a small little game out of ego become bigger and bigger. eventually ending up in war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYvHiDMMtOw

who would have cast that stone knowing what would happen. i have put only one war link. but all conflict and war start small and get out of control.