How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
I have said before
That the past experience revived in the meaning
Is not the experience of one life only
But of many generations—not forgetting. (487-490)
The past contained in our memory isn't personal, you know. Our memories form part of the history of an entire culture, and of many generations stretching back into the past. We can never truly know how much the past is governing what we do, but it's totally silly to think that we're a bunch of individuals whose personal memories are starting from point zero when we're born.
Quote #5
The backward look behind the assurance
Of recorded history, the backward half-look
Over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror. (492-494)
We might be pretty comfortable with the idea that humanity is making progress through history. After all, our history textbooks prove this, don't they? Well, behind these comforting textbooks ("the assurance of recorded history"), we might actually glimpse a terrible truth: that humanity hasn't learned from its mistakes at all, and that we modern folks are not any more intelligent or moral than all of the people who came before us. We have to come to terms with this fact before we can start really getting a grip on how to improve ourselves and the world.
Quote #6
We shall not cease from our exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. (866-869)
We might think we've seen it all and done it all, but the truth of life isn't to know everything. It's to take a close look at what you think you know and to see it again for the first time. In this case, we need to get over the confidence we have in the thought that we already know a lot, and we need to realize that life isn't about getting anywhere, per se, but about getting back (for once) to where you already are. This is how you start living in the "here" and "now."