Am I wrong to think that history is as comforting as a page-turner mystery novel, that when it's done, it appears to be somehow magically and completely "done?"
Whether horrific or edifying or spun with wonder, still there is something relaxed and lulling in a history which is, after all, "then." No matter how ornate the links of connection ... still, history is "then," a time of safety and false reassurance.
How hard -- or is it simply impossible? -- to imbue what is known of history with the same faceted, wriggling, wrinkled, wispy possibilities that invest this "now" -- a time that may not be relaxed and lulling at all, but soon enough will itself be "then."
I find history comforting because it is now as well as then. Devalued currencies, inflation, ideological cruelties, ecological devastations, poverty, war, etc. We're no worse off than our forebears and samsara is confirmed in one stroke.
ReplyDeleteHistory repeats because we arrogantly think we're smarter and able to do the same things that were done with different results, or perhaps our greed outweighs our concern for consequences.
It's comforting to think that we're no worse off than we've ever been. Even considering nuclear weapons and global climate change. Civilizations fall and the species continues in difficult circumstance. Even James Lovelock believes the master of the pointed stick will survive what's coming if he can get to the polar regions.