Christopher Bollas on the Past, History and Myth

"Past and history are not the same thing. The past happened. It is composed of events that affected the self, some of which can be remembered, but most of which are outside memory altogether. History is a person's transformation of the past into a story which that person can tell himself or herself. Sometimes the story does indeed derive from the past, but even for the most sincere of analysands, his or her history will be more like a myth.

Christopher Bollas (2009). The Infinite Question. London: Routledge." (pp. 30-31).