If you have a memory -
history is made. Humans waste so much time in talking about history of the
world and their own past that sometimes it's difficult for them to live in the
present. What is History? - Everything that happened in the past is history. So
we grow up listening - History teaches us ... , History shows us ..., History
is against so and so ... So I guess history is very important.
Let’s divide History
in 2 parts. One is the world History (political / Sports / Eras etc) and the
other is your own past.
Let’s take the world
history - Except for the skeleton of the chronological dates and events none of
it really happened. When you read history books except for the dates and
probably the events (Example - A war was declared) not much else is factual.
There are 7 billion histories in the world one for each head. They are not
real. Everything is an interpretation and twisted by the person relaying the
history. Someone's freedom fighter is another's terrorist. Someone was brave
and some guy said something which meant something to someone is all
interpretation based on one's point of view. Generally, it is said History is
written by the powerful. What it means is - it is just a story it's not really
a fact. So history is basically fiction and that is the reason it is so hotly
debated because it can be changed and twisted however you like. Dates and
events are not interesting; the part of history which is mostly debated is the
one which is purely subjective. For example, no one will debate that 'xyz' was
killed on a date. What will be debated is - what xyz said, what he meant, what
killer was thinking, what he was saying while getting sentenced etc... This is
all in each head for each to twist.
Let’s discuss an
autobiography, for example. Except for dates, there is nothing much you can get
out of them because whatever the person said, never happened, at least in the
way that we could fully trust the account. It's not that they are lying, but it
is impossible to write what you did without thinking it in your brain, and once
the brain is involved, you can't be objective. Though it's a good story to read
and probably a good account of how that particular brain works, but as far as
his history is concerned it is just His-Story and is really is like any other
fictional story.
Events happen, your
brain processes it, and then you tell another person and the other brain processes
it a little more, so the farther away from the past you get, the more unreal
the events become. When you tell your kids what you used to do as a child, the
events are already less factual. This is the reason that when you read about
times gone by, the people almost look unreal. They are either supermen or
devils because the interpretations and biases make them completely distorted,
that they start lacking their human touch.
In short - the way to
interpret history is to regard it as a skeleton of events and then when you put
your own understanding to better see how the skeleton looked like or what was
its nature and values were; it is not really history it is your own fictional
story.
Let’s get to the
second and more 'usable' part - Your History. Your own past is something only
you exclusively own. But it never happened (at least not what you remember).
Think what happened yesterday or last week. What you think really happened is
definitely not what many will agree. If you remember the 'pure past' then
'past' should be unique. But there are numerous pasts - one for each head. Here
is where the tussle of life starts. You can clearly remember what happened and
the other person just doesn't agree. How is it possible! It is so clear to you
and other people don't agree to it! You get mad and your logical conclusion is
that the world is against you. At least a few people are. They are conspiring
to make you look bad and you start reacting to it. What you don't realize is
that the world is not seeing what you saw. As soon as the moment passes, it
ceases to exist and it is not 'alive' anymore. Hence, at the present, it has
never happened and there is no account of it in its purest form. What remains
is some twisted memory absorbed by your brain with all the biases and frailties
of your brain. That is just a bad snapshot of a piece of time which makes no
sense independently. And everyone is pitching their snapshot against other and
trying to match it and when it doesn't match--it makes life a burden. For
example, at work, you worked hard and now they say you were the problem! You
thought you deserved promotion but the boss thinks you didn't do anything
great. The fact is that no one is conspiring against you--everyone is trapped
in their own sense of past. In other words, they are believing their own
"his-story", or history.
My Point is - When you
read history or biographies, take it with a grain of salt. All are good
stories. Take what you like but don't put your heart in it. When you remember
your own past, do the same. Assume it is not a very accurate account. When you
get into a situation with others whose understanding of a shared past is
something different, remind yourself that that's how it should be. It was
processed by various minds and none of it is a true representation, and there
is only something called the present, and there is nothing called a unique
past. This will make you relax and understand. If you feel anger as soon as you
listen to someone's account of the past - remember it is only because of 2
different past are being confused as one. As you start believing this, you will
find yourself smiling more at 'issues' of the past than taking them seriously.
Enjoy the story, don't believe it. And as an underlying principle of
spirituality, try to live in the present as oppose to dwell on an unreliable
account of the past.
