Past, Present, and Future

Victor Bregeda's painting 'Past, Present, and Future' presents the concept that what we see and perceive is dependent upon our vantage point, and also on our mental preparedness, and our level of understanding.

Here Victor shows Christ as being always present, in the past, now, and forever. However, the artist painting at the shoreline, from his point of view does not see the face of Christ that we see. The artist sees and paints only the tree, the sky, and the land.

The boat symbolizes that which transports us from the physical to the spiritual. This could be teachings which we read in a book, an experience we have that increases our understanding, something that a friend says to us, or any other means of bringing us from the physical to the spiritual. The bubbles rising up symbolize how spiritual knowledge percolates through our everyday life, like bubbles of clarity rising through water.

The man who has received knowledge now walks back through the same area that he saw in the past with so little understanding. Returning after he has attained spiritual consciousness, he walks on water as he has gone beyond the laws of the physical reality. He glimpses his past self, the ghost of his past, when he was able to see only part of what was before him.

As the viewer, we contibute the perspective of the future to the painting in that we alone are able to perceive the presence of Christ in the scene. The man with the boat has certainly progressed beyond the awareness of the painter, yet he still has his back to Christ. The implication is that, as he progresses further, he will eventually attain the perception necessary to see all dimensions of reality.