About History and Historical Awareness --- History and Lessons
What lessons can we learn from history? Can the lessons of history help us? Maybe we have learned history the wrong way and therefore believe the wrong lessons. Our future will be very different depending on what lessons we draw from history. And in order to derive better lessons from history, it is important to have a better understanding of history.
What lessons can we learn from a single event in history? As a mental exercise, choose one historical event and think about the lessons that can be learned from it. Rather than looking at the incident from a biased perspective, by analyzing it from various angles, we can discover a variety of different lessons. Even with a single incident, the background and impact on the surroundings are complex and intricate, and various lessons can be derived depending on the person or the way of thinking.
Let us draw lessons from the rise and fall of nations. How can a nation prosper? Why do nations decline? Is there a reason for the fall of nations? Is decline and destruction preventable or not? If we look at the rise and fall of various nations that have appeared in history, will we be able to discover the regularity of their rise and fall? What lessons should we draw to ensure that our nation thrives and does not decline?
There are many lessons to be learned from the lives of those in power. History is also a biography of those in power. Powerful people rise up, gain a lot of power, expand or shrink their territory, lose power, and finally die. How many people in power can say that they have a happy life? Has anyone in power ever made a fatal mistake? If you were a historical power, how would you think and act? I am sure that many of the lessons drawn from their lives will be useful in your own life as well.
There are many lessons to be learned from the history of religion. Religion has had a great impact on people's lives and behavior. In addition, in history, we can see the rise and fall of various religions and the conflicts between religions. How we think about religion and how we should deal with religion, we may be able to learn some good lessons by looking at history.
Find lessons in cultural history as well. What kind of conditions are met for culture to blossom? How does culture develop, diversify, or decline? What kind of meaning is hidden in our own culture? Let's get to know Then, let's think about what to do with our culture from now on. You should find some lessons about culture in history.
In order to find good lessons from history, it is imperative to have better historical awareness. A better understanding of history is not, for example, a biased, one-sided, narrow-minded one, but a multifaceted, bird's-eye view, and a broader one. Paradoxically, we may also consider “better historical awareness” to be something that can lead to better and more effective lessons.
Even if you study history intently, if the lessons you learn from it are not useful, you may not be able to say that you have learned a very good lesson. In order to learn better lessons, let's not fixate our thoughts and reconsider how we learn history and how we perceive history.
History is a record of changes and transitions over time. People remember the past and often remember the past. However, people often misremember and forget the past. People may disagree about past events. As generations change, memories of the past are lost, and the identity of organizations such as nations and ethnic groups can be lost. Preserving history is important in order not to forget the past, not to have conflicts about the past, and not to lose the identity of the organization.
Recognition is the ability to perceive and understand something. Historical awareness generally refers to understanding and grasping history. History is written by someone. Since it was recorded by someone, history is influenced by the subjectivity and thought of the person who recorded it, and it is written for the convenience of those in power who ordered the record. In order to correctly recognize history, we must first understand that history itself is not necessarily correct. So is there a way to correctly recognize what is incorrect?
History is made by the victors of war. Much of history is written in favor of the winners of wars. In some cases, the side that loses the war is made into an outrageous villain. When we read history, we might as well keep in mind that it was written for the victors of the war. Otherwise, we will end up with a biased view of history that favors the winners. When studying history, it is important to look at the record of the losing side and understand history from both sides.
Much of history is written by historians. Historians collect vast amounts of information, carefully verify its reliability, sift through it through repeated consideration, connect disparate pieces of information together by making inferences about missing information, and so on. We will build a whole picture of history. A history book written in this way may be said to be "a work by a historian." The history book that is his work is more or less mixed with historian's subjectivity, distorted information bias due to selection, and misinformation. Not only that, many historians distort history in their own biased ways.
History is a story. It's a story that connects events that happened in the past and puts them all together. In the case of history, all the material should be only events that happened in the past. However, history is sometimes mixed with fictional stories. A plausible story can slip into history and be believed to be true by many people. Conversely, real events may appear to be fictional. History is fictionalized by historians' bold speculations, by the convenience of those in power, or because it is boring to list facts alone.
History and religion have a close relationship that is inseparable. Religion influences history, and history influences religion. Religion can affect people and change history significantly. Religions that were once oppressed by those in power can spread in later times and change history. Different religions have different historical perceptions. If a historian believes in a particular religion, the history will be heavily influenced by the historian's religious beliefs. History is religion and religion is history.
History can be conveniently rewritten by those in power to justify their power. What is convenient for those in power is emphasized, and what is not convenient is hidden or erased. Also, as an expert in history, people tend to think that everything they say is correct. Even the history books left by authoritative historians contain prejudices and mistakes. Not all histories presented by powers and authorities are correct. When reading history books, it is better to think that there are always alterations due to the convenience of those in power and prejudices and mistakes of authoritative historians.
Culture is the spiritual product of human learning, religion, architecture, art, and lifestyle. Where people gather, culture is born, culture develops, culture diversifies, or culture declines. When you study history, you can learn that various cultures were born, developed, influenced each other, and declined. When studying history, pay attention to its culture and its transitions. Culture also tells us the characteristics of regions and ethnic groups. People grow up in culture, create culture, change culture, and destroy culture.
A people is a group of people who share something. The "something" that people share is language, lifestyle, values, customs, religion, history, and so on. Ethnic groups have their own unique histories and historical views. The history of a flourishing nation becomes the history of that era, and the history of a declining nation is erased. The history of the world is also a record of the rise and fall of various ethnic groups. When studying history, it is also interesting to pay attention to the rise and fall of ethnic groups and consider how history and the rise and fall of ethnic groups influence each other.
What can we learn from studying history? What can history teach us? Does history teach us to be moral? Or does history teach us to be immoral? Learning history does not necessarily make people moral. But history is not always wholly immoral. There are many moral lessons hidden in history. On the other hand, historical facts may be unacceptable to many people's moral convictions.
If you study history, you will know various place names. Famous places tend to be popular as tourist destinations. Historically important ruins and historic sites are important tourism resources. A fascinating history increases the value of tourism resources. A city with a rich history is rich in flavor, and you can gain more realizations by visiting the land than you can learn about history from a textbook. Respecting history and preserving historically important historic sites will lead to increased tourism resources in the area.
There are many ways to learn history. History can be seen differently depending on how you study it. For example, there are ways to study a single historical event from various angles, or to study the history of a single ethnic group or religion. Alternatively, you can compare similar incidents or compare the histories of conflicting nations, ethnic groups, and religions. It is good to learn only the history of the winning side, but there may be new discoveries by looking at the history of the losing side.
History is littered with lies. When we study history, we must also know how to detect historical lies. History is a complex created by the convenience of many people. When lies are mixed in history, there must be traces of the person who mixed the lies. Basically, history is conveniently made by the victors of war, those in power, historians and religious figures. But they are not the only ones to lie to history.
History is hidden. Much history is hidden behind the history that gets attention. History that is inconvenient to those in power and historians is deliberately hidden. When there is a big event, the events around it go unnoticed and are effectively hidden from our sight. In studying history, it is also important to find "hidden history". By discovering hidden histories, you may be able to see the whole picture of that era that you couldn't see before. So how do we find hidden histories?
What lessons can we learn from history? Can the lessons of history help us? Maybe we have learned history the wrong way and therefore believe the wrong lessons. Our future will be very different depending on what lessons we draw from history. And in order to derive better lessons from history, it is important to have a better understanding of history.
In order to learn from history and get good lessons, it is important to have a better historical awareness. In order to have a better understanding of history, it is important not to trust most of the historical knowledge in the world. If you believe in a biased view of history from a particular standpoint, you will not be able to have a better view of history. In order to have a better understanding of history, it is first necessary to know various historical perceptions from different standpoints, and then to find a historical perception that allows us to take a broader view of the whole. If there is no good historical awareness in the world, let's come up with a better historical awareness ourselves.
The present we live in will eventually become the past. We also write history. If possible, I would like to leave behind a history from which we can learn good lessons so that future generations can create a better world. In order to leave a history from which we can learn good lessons, we need to reconsider the way we see things and the way we think when writing down history. In other words, instead of writing a biased history from a particular point of view, instead of writing only the things that are convenient for us and hiding the things that are not so convenient, we should write a history that gives us a broader view of the whole.
