Is it possible to change the past by thinking differently about it?

I heard you could change the past by thinking differently about it. I have a question. Does this really work and has anybody tried this with success?
People keep saying you can change the future with thinking differently but what about the past?

[edit on 27-9-2009 by sphinx551]

I think the only thing you can change about the past is change your view on an experience you had. Something happen a little while ago and all you can see is something negative. But if you change how you look at it you may actually see that a positive came out of it. Am I making any since?

Originally posted by Ant4AU
Am I making any since?

Yes.
If you think and feel positive about the past, maybe the outcome will come out differently?

reply to post by sphinx551


Outcomes and the affect on you is what you have the ability to change not what actually happen. Glad you got it as I am not a word smith.

Yes, seems It's possible to re-interpretate/re-read any event.

In NLP they call it "Reframing".

Is the cup half full or half empty? or some BS like that.

[edit on 27-9-2009 by infobrazil]

Originally posted by sphinx551
I heard you could change the past by thinking differently about it. I have a question. Does this really work and has anybody tried this with success?
People keep saying you can change the future with thinking differently but what about the past?

[edit on 27-9-2009 by sphinx551]

One perspective would be that the past is the sum of your memories , memories are fallible and over time we all modify "the narrative" of our past .
So i suppose we all change the past by thinking about it really , but i would say a lot of it happens subconsciously .
Of course this will not effect any physical change on anything other than your mind .


There have been studies done on the subject , one of the more recent was conducted testing peoples recollections of the morning of Sept 11 2001. They recorded peoples testimonies in and around sept 11 and then some years later asked the same questions . Even the memories of such a horrific event were susceptible to retro-active interference from new information, when attempting to reconstruct events. Of course this is not a conscious act .



Good luck on your psychonautic adventure .

Originally posted by UmbraSumus

Good luck on your psychonautic adventure .

Thank you.

So far everyone has been right on par. The mechanics behind time travel would not allow for one to change the past. It would be a violation unless the change was part of the timeline to begin with. (would be nice if the Butterfly Effect was more than a movie)

You mean like a butterfly effect?

Anything is possible so... Who knows!

reply to post by The Songwriter


The actual term refers to events in the present. Everything you do has a direct effect on the environment around you. And changing one little insignificant event could mean drastic changes somewhere down the timeline. I believe the idea was first introduced in very old chinese philosophies.

It was an awesome movie though. Went right along with the term. (the first one was the best. the others sucked lol)

And yes, anything is possible. So it is stated in the Multiverse Theory of quantum mechanics that anything that CAN happen DOES happen in some alternate reality.

[edit on 28-9-2009 by Mr. Toodles]

Originally posted by Mr. Toodles
The actual term refers to events in the present. Everything you do has a direct effect on the environment around you. And changing one little insignificant event could mean drastic changes somewhere down the timeline. I believe the idea was first introduced in very old chinese philosophies.

One of the most informative and interesting paragraphs I have ever read.

Yes, unfortunatly, the past is done and gone and cannot be changed. It would be nice if we could change it just by thinking differently about it, but we cant. All we can do is change our veiws on it so we can move forward into a better future. Was there something particular you wanted to change about your past?

it's gone. just move on.

Originally posted by Jess_Undefined
Was there something particular you wanted to change about your past?

Yes and it's a couple things.

Your past is opportunity to learn and accept. If you learned from it, there should be no regrets. The highest level of ego development is when you can embrace all things, good and bad, because you can see how they all made you what you are today. The past is hard to face sometimes, it takes a stronger person to face the past and accept it then ignore it or regret it.


[edit on 1-10-2009 by LeoVirgo]

Originally posted by sphinx551
I heard you could change the past by thinking differently about it. I have a question. Does this really work and has anybody tried this with success?
People keep saying you can change the future with thinking differently but what about the past?

[edit on 27-9-2009 by sphinx551]

Well, there's two lines of thought on this.

1) Our world leaders and certain factions within those governments (or maybe better referred to as the NWO) practice this all the time. But not in the way you are thinking of. They do it by re-writing history as THEY think it SHOULD have happened.

or

2) You will never know because if you succeed then your past experiences will be what you changed them to thus not knowing any different.

This is a fun topic to discuss but one that you will not likely get much scientific support for.

I don't think that the past can be changed by thinking differently about it. I think that by gaining a different perspective on it you can view it more positively or negatively than you originally did.

Originally posted by dariousg
1) Our world leaders and certain factions within those governments (or maybe better referred to as the NWO) practice this all the time. But not in the way you are thinking of. They do it by re-writing history as THEY think it SHOULD have happened.

Where is this information coming from?

[edit on 1-10-2009 by sphinx551]

[edit on 1-10-2009 by sphinx551]

Originally posted by Jess_Undefined
Yes, unfortunatly, the past is done and gone and cannot be changed.

Well, I guess so. The future can still be changed though.