Why Study History?

The past two posts have been a bit of a reminder for me of how much I enjoy the study of history. It is, I think, undervalued - maybe because there aren't enough "concrete" benefits to for a utilitarian culture. But I think it's essential, and here's why:

History doesn't just help give you perspective on why the world is the way it is (though it can do that.) History is about freedom and identity, freedom from the slavery of imagining only one worldview and the ability to develop an identity which spans the centuries rather than relying on name brand logos.

Study history; pick your period. Read it, study it, imagine it and you'll find, in time, that the people in those hazy times start to come into focus. They become more human, motivated like humans, sharing in our basic blend of dreams and hopes, fear and suffering, bravery and weakness. You'll be delighted with some of the ways they responded to challenge, uplifted by the fact that it isn't simply the 21st century version of Homo sapiens that has the capacity for creativity. In short, you will find yourself sympathizing with these people. In time you may come to love them.

And: If you can bring yourself to to love another age for its people, its dress, and its customs you are finally free. You can at last turn your eyes back on your own time and judge it with some clarity. You'll still be in your time - nothing can turn the clock back- but you will be a little less beholden to it, its claws won't be so deep in you.

That leaves you free to keep the good and reject the bad, since every age will have both. It is also, ladies and gentlemen, a way to achieve a real non-conformism that so many youth seem to yearn for.

And as for identity, just imagine your own memory for a moment. Your memory is so integral to your being that your very self-identity would collapse without it. How can I have a sense of myself if I've forgotten everything? Imagine it for a moment, looking out on the world and recognizing nothing. Imagine having lived a life but not recalling any single choice you've ever made. How do you know anything at all?

Ignorance of history is like amnesia on a vast scale. How are we in the West supposed to have a good sense of what the "West" even means if we've forgotten everything? There have been attempts at inventing a history, but these are coloured by a desire to justify the present. So, most of our stereotypes of the past, of the middle ages for example, are negative. All we see are brutes mucking about in a dark age that was only illuminated by the light of science and secularism.

What that means though, in some ways, is that you're being asked to assume the worst of your ancestors. Studying history is a reconnection with those ancestors, like renewing a relationship with your beloved grandparents. Because the history of our civilization is not just necessary to the broader culture, but as an act of renewal and self-discovery for the individual.

Which brings me back to the Church. If you are of European ancestry your history is Catholic. Your ancestors celebrated the sacraments in stone churches under starry skies. Your blood is full of the assumptions bred into you by a hundred generations of Catholic thought: the sanctity of life, the equality of man, free will, the beauty of the individual. A rigorous and imaginative study of history will bear this out.