While creating Leksikon, we realized that people return to the past not to remain there, but to understand the present and make better decisions.
Sometimes we do it out of fear, like in Ivo Andrić’s “Anika’s Times.”
Sometimes it happens unexpectedly – when a long-forgotten scent or taste takes us back to childhood.
Goethe put it this way: What I have, I see as if in the distance; what fades away, I truly possess.
The past is a reliable source of knowledge because it is complete and its outcome is clear. Only what has disappeared exists clearly in our minds.
How does the past give meaning to the present?
In “Anika’s Times,” the townspeople try to understand the sudden downfall of Father Vujadin. They don’t run away from the confusing and frightening present. They return to the past to make sense of it.
This is a natural human reaction.
Everyone, even unwillingly, tried to find a cause and explanation for that misfortune, and thus ease the heart and calm the heavy thought.
(Ivo Andrić: “Anika’s Times”)
So, one of Father Vujadin’s fellow townspeople, Mula Ibrahim Kuka, finds in his grandfather’s yellowed notebooks the story of Anika. Kuka tries to connect the “hook of the story” between past and present events. That link would reveal meaning.
Why are pauses and rest powerful?
Time management among successful people always includes moments of reflection.
Pauses strengthen the link between who we once were and who we plan to become. This way, we feel like a whole person whose life has meaning. For example, the blank spaces on the pages of books give us a break while reading, but also space to write down an important thought in the margins, so it doesn’t slip away.
While successful people reflect on the past consciously, for most of us it happens instinctively. For example, when we taste elderflower juice and are instantly transported back to our grandmother’s yard.
In “The Bridge on the Žepa,” the narrator experiences it when he feels the warmth of the stone bridge on which he rests from a long journey.
It was one evening when he was returning from the mountains and, tired, sat down by the stone railing of the bridge. It had been hot summer days, but the nights were cool. As he leaned his back against the stone, he felt it still warm from the day’s heat. The man was sweaty, and a cold wind was coming from the Drina; the touch of the warm carved stone was pleasant and strange. They understood each other instantly. That’s when he decided to write its history.
(Ivo Andrić: “The Bridge on the Žepa”)
What does this mean for you?
If you know how to connect your present challenges with experiences from the past, you will be able to:
- see the meaning of your decisions more clearly,
- recognize patterns and mistakes faster,
- find direction more easily when it feels like there isn’t one.
That’s why Leksikon was created
To preserve stories that help you understand yourself and the present.
Leksikon wasn’t created just to store memories – but to listen to them when you need answers.
Leksikon is a digital space where the past becomes your compass for navigating the present.
It’s a place for stories that build bridges between the past and the present.
📖 Because only when we can clearly tell something to someone else do we truly understand it – and see that it has meaning.