Well, even that has a historical bias.*tongue emoticon*Is it
possible to read a historical text WITHOUT our current way of
thinking injecting itself into our interpretations of it?
One thing I like to do when I get deep into it, is see how
different historians interpreted history from THEIR perspectives
in _their_ times.
What biases can I see?
For example, how did 16th century view the Medieval times? After
all, they were closer in time to it than us. What assumptions
did they hold? What were their biases?
Or, how did 4th century Greeks view the Romans? How did 4th
century Romans view the Greeks?
Stuff like that. And it becomes a "he said, she said" situation
that extends throughout the whole span of time.
And the more different perspectives you get, the more the gaps
start to fill in.
I knew NOTHING of the period of time between 5th century AD and
15th century AD except for knights and plague and maybe an
Islamic mathematician.
But then I joined the Greek Orthodox church for a few years just
for the heck of it in my mid 20s.
Suddenly, a whole NEW view of history blossomed. I found out
that a LOT happened n that time frame. A lot happened that was
at the height of culture and infliuence. I learned about the
Christianizatoin of Russia from their perspective... I learned
some of the deep thinkers of the time, which consisted of monks
(male and female) living in the deserts and caves, expounding
their views on human nature and such from their perspectives.
And there was no backwardness. There was no illiteracy. There
was no stupidity. SUCH a different view than anything I learned
before.
parts of the world GLOWED with new knowledge. I started getting
an understanding that this Rome that i thought was SUCH a big
deal, was like, eh, oh yeah, the Latins, yeah them, from the
Eastern perspective.
I'm still missing parts. China I'm ignorant of in most ways.*
I also want to learn more of history from an Islamic
perspective. I know the Byzantine perspective pretty well - and
they actually got along rather nicely 'til Rome got jealous and
wanted rich Byzantinum for themselves and started a lot of
fighting.*
Anyway, the more stuff you pick up from different POV, you no
longer get these nice easy straight lines that go from A event
to B event but rather you get a feel for large groups of people,
not so different from each other, pushing and pulling but MOSTLY
trying to get along when they weren't fighting.
And it puts you there. Getting up in the morning. Stretching.
Pooping in a hole in the floor in another room that leads to the
ground to be washed away by a town septic system and you go
about your day, and life isn't that bad.
[1]kenneth-udut-reading-your-writing-is-fascinating Thanks*grin
emoticon*I write best when I'm annoyed a little by the culture I
was raised in and live in, and I get passionate about defending
a lesser-heard point of view.
References
Visible links
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