Man always is in the present where the “trace” (to use or misuse a word/concept that Derrida keeps hearkening back to) is always present of the past.
The past is always present in the present, and thereby retsricts, closes off the full unrestricted range of possibilities that a future can hold.
And, this past, which I consider to be the Dasein (as Heidegger called it) or man’s being, is his psychological self in the present, brought into being through the rich tapestry of the past where he lived, dreamed, explored, acted, failed, succeeded, etc.
The past is karma. The past is genes. The past is parents. The past is education. The past is tradition. The past is all our identities, be it geneder, caste, religion, nationality, ethnicity, traumas, failures, hurts, successes etc.
Freedom lies in freedom from this “trace”.
Know Thyself 