By Ray Van Neste
Guest columnist
American philosopher Allan Bloom once wrote that the most common self-destructive tendency of humanity is thinking all that matters is the current moment.
You can see this in the YOLO ethos – You Only Live Once. This philosophy encourages us to live in the moment without any sense of preparing for the future.
One key to addressing this fatal tendency is developing a historical awareness. History provides context for life and thought.
Context
Without an awareness of history, last year’s failed idea becomes this year’s great idea, which is happening in much of society today! History provides context for ideas, helping us properly understand them and be aware of how they have been weighed in the past. As Harry Truman once quipped, “The only new thing in this world is the history you don’t know!”
Perspective
Without historical awareness, we are particularly susceptible to error. In C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, the demon Screwtape, instructing his protégé in the art of deceiving humans, says, “remember they know no history.” The implication is that people who lack historical awareness are more easily duped.
Of course, history does not answer all questions, but it gives us experience. Why rely only on the years we have ourselves? History gives us the opportunity to gain years of experience by delving into the human experience.
C S Lewis makes a similar point in one of my favorite quotes: “The scholar has lived in many times and is, therefore, in some degree, immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.” We need voices from different places and eras to give us perspective, to keep us from being swept up into the latest fad, and to give us pause.
Preservation
Knowledge of history is a guardian of liberty and defender against tyranny. Theologian Alister McGrath has stated, “the surest way to destroy a people is to erase the memory of their past.” It is striking to see the disintegration of cultural cohesion around us and to see it paralleled by gleeful ignorance of our history. Thomas Jefferson said, “The most effectual means for preventing the move to tyranny is the teaching of history.”
Guidance
Not only can history guard us, it can also guide us. Lord Bolingbroke, an 18th century political philosopher, said “history is philosophy taught with examples.” To plot a trajectory you need two points. We have the present but can’t access the future. Our only option for a second point on our trajectory is the past. Thus, in order to see where you are going, you must know where you have been.
If we are going to provide any leadership, any thoughtful input as to where we are going and how we ought to respond to current issues, we need to know the past. What did people in the past do in similar situations? What were the results of similar ideas, plans or deeds? Can we learn from the failures of the past?
To point to specific areas of application, popular historian, David McCullough, said, “A sense of history is an antidote to self-pity and self-importance, of which there is much too much in our time.” When all we know is our own personal history, we will think our troubles are the greatest ever, and give up. Historical awareness can deliver us from both crushing despair and sophomoric narcissism by placing our own situation in the context of broader human experience.
For example, I often hear people say we currently live in the darkest moment of human history. You can hear this in our churches, news outlets, and even from dear, devoted people. We seem to be in a continuous state of crisis. The bubonic plague wiped out a third of the population in Europe. The Hundred Years War killed half the population of France. Nazi Germany exterminated six million Jews. These examples should shame the whining out of us. Of course, we have problems, but historical awareness keeps us out of the unhelpful, unprofitable pity parties, and gives us ideas for moving forward.
Conclusion
We need a new wave of thoughtful, hardworking, deep-thinking, people to bring to bear historical awareness to discover paths forward. In the words attributed to Alfred the Great, King of the Saxons, “The past is given to those in the present, to keep and guard those in the future.” Each and all of us need to receive and appreciate the past that we might keep and guard the future.
Ray Van Neste is Dean and Professor of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, Jackson, TN.
